


Eagle

by semifunctionalfangirl



Series: Eagle [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, team fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-10
Updated: 2014-01-10
Packaged: 2018-01-08 05:54:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 31,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1129113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/semifunctionalfangirl/pseuds/semifunctionalfangirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been 3 years since the Battle of New York, 3 years since the Avengers formed, and 3 years since Lillian Coulson left SHIELD. When a former mobster moves in next to her and is threatening his own family, Lillian will have to face her past to save a young woman and her child.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lillian Coulson, Leasing Manager

Lillian Coulson had a full schedule for the day. Between appointments, scheduled moving, and walk-ins, the life as a Leasing Manager was never dull. That is, if you were a normal Leasing Manager. Lillian Coulson was a former agent of SHIELD, a top secret organization. There was simply no comparison when moving from a life as a master assassin to someone who simply showed apartments all day. Lillian could have any job she wanted (she knew people in high places); but being the only living person in one's family does a lot to said person's lifestyle. No, Lillian was bored, but she was content.

She woke up every morning, took a shower, grabbed her black coffee, and kissed the picture of her brother before plastering a superficial smile on her face and stepping out into the sunshine.

This particular morning was no different. She stepped into her office and greeted her new secretary, Debbie.

"Ms. Coulson," She started. "You have three appointments today and one move in. The move in should be here in an hour."

"Okay, go get the paperwork and bring it to me. I'll handle the move-in. Do you think you'll be okay with any walk-ins?"

Debbie brightened significantly. It was the first time Lillian had trusted her with anything. "I won't let you down." She said, leaving the office.

Lillian sighed. Debbie was a little too overzealous.

Debbie deposited the forms on Lillian's desk and went back to her own, preparing for the first few customers of the day.

Lillian looked through the file. The family would be moving directly next to her own apartment. She prayed that the three year old child slept through the night (not as if she got much sleep anyway).

Three years, it's been three years since her brother died and she left the organization. She pushed the thought back into the recesses of her mind. She had nighttime for those particular thoughts.

As she did with every applicant, she had accessed SHIELD files (being on close terms with the director had its benefits) and ran a quick check. It turned out that Jake Daily had a few aliases. Quickly scanning the list, she had stopped suddenly in recognition.

Antonio Vitelli, a former mobster that she had crossed paths with a few times when she was an agent, was going to be her new neighbor. The man was so crooked even the Italians didn't want to claim him. Why SHIELD hadn't assassinated him was a mystery to Lillian.

She decided to let him move in, the better to keep her eye on him. She may be retired from spy work but you could never take the spy out of her.

Lillian did some more paperwork before Debbie informed her that the "Daily" family was here. He didn't recognize her, hardly anyone ever did. Her missions were long distance missions. She was a marksman for the Agency, second only to Hawkeye. The two had never crossed paths, and Lillian preferred it. They may have been on the same team but he was her competition all the same.

"Mr. and Mrs. Daily, welcome to Lakeside Apartments." She showed them to their apartment and took them around. Lillian's first impression of Jake was dark, brooding, and rude. He was desperate to get rid of the manager and Lillian knew it. His wife however, Amelia, was not the typical mobster wife. She seemed resigned, almost afraid of her husband. She stood in a way so that she could subtlety protect her son. Lillian assumed it was either subconscious or extremely practiced. She wondered why. Their son, introduced as James, looked nothing like his father. While Jake had a dark complexion and dark hair, his son had a pale complexion dotted with freckles and bleach blond hair. If Lillian had to venture a guess, James was not the son of Jake.

Lillian smiled sweetly at Amelia and James, wanting them to feel comfortable with her. Jake grew more and more frustrated with her presence and Lillian decided to take her leave.

"If you need anything at all, I'll be in the office until five today, and I live right next door: 201." Lillian said with her eyes fixed on Amelia. Lillian noticed the anxious look she gave to her husband.

She headed back to her office and continued on with the motions of the day, her mind trying to dissect the puzzle that was Amelia Daily.

Lillian waited a week before approaching Amelia again. She waited until Jake left to knock on the door. Amelia answered, eyes ablaze with fear, before falling into a relaxed smile. "Hello, Ms. Coulson. How may I help you?"

"Please, it's Lillian. I was just doing a check in, to see how the apartment is treating you."

"Oh we love it." Amelia smiled brightly. She glanced over Lillian's shoulder before she opened the door wider. "Would you like to come in?"

Lillian nodded but Amelia's action was not lost on her. She followed her into the kitchen.

"Would you like some coffee?" Amelia asked her, pouring herself a cup.

"Please, black." Lillian said.

"I'm glad you stopped by. I wanted to apologize for my husband's behavior. He was being very rude." Amelia said.

"With all due respect Ms. Daily, an apology would be more meaningful coming from him." She noticed her wince as she handed her the mug. "But I grew up with an older brother, I know how it is to try and communicate that they were wrong."

Amelia laughed nervously. "Yes, well, my husband has a bit of a temper."

"Most men do." Lillian said, spy training making its way to the front of her mind. She was trying to extract as much information as she could. "How long have you been married?"

"Five years," Amelia said. To anyone else, Amelia's tone was an indifferent one. To a spy, Lillian picked up sadness with an undertone of fear.

Lillian was about to ask another probing question when James came bolting into the room. "Mommy, the Avengers are on the news again!" He yelled excitedly. "They saved soldiers in Afghanistan!"

"That's amazing honey." Amelia said, squatting down to his level. "Can you say hello to Ms. Coulson, James?"

"Hi Ms. Coulson," he said obediently.

"Hello, James," She said kindly. "So you like the Avengers?"

"They are only the coolest superheroes ever!" He said. "Captain America is my favorite!" Lillian watched as Amelia closed her eyes and sighed softly. The puzzle was getting difficult to decipher.

"Captain America is very cool superhero." Lillian agreed. She placed her coffee cup on the counter. "I better get going. Thank you for the coffee."

"Are you sure you don't want to stay a little longer?" Amelia asked glancing at the clock. "Jake isn't due back for a few more hours."

"No, I have some more office work I need to get done, but thank you." Lillian smiled. "We can do lunch tomorrow if you like?"

"Oh no, not tomorrow," Amelia said anxiously. "How about Monday? Jake usually works late."

Lillian wondered why Jake's work schedule had so much importance. "Monday sounds great."


	2. Hawkeye

Clint Barton was missing, again, and that was how he preferred it. Particularly, after a mission, Clint would disappear for some solitude. He chose a different spot each time, so his teammates could not find him. The only person who knew his spots was his partner, Natasha, but she has known him long enough to know that he doesn't want to be found and to leave well enough alone, something she had to repeat to Tony Stark often.

This time, Clint was on the roof, his legs dangling off of Avenger's Tower, looking out into the New York City skyline. He closed his eyes as the night time breeze washed over him. He was still sandy and hot from the sweltering Afghanistan terrain.

It was a simple mission: the army had stumbled on a HYDRA base and their weapons were no match for HYDRA's high tech weapons. The base was a small one and the Avengers easily overpowered the HYDRA agents.

He heard her breathe, signaling her presence on the roof for his benefit. He knew that if the Black Widow didn't want to be heard, she wouldn't be.

She sat down next to him on the roof. "Fury's sending me out on a solo."

He sighed. "Me too. I leave in two hours."

She nodded and they sat for a bit in comfortable silence.

"Clint, Steve's been asking again." Natasha said. "I'm on an espionage so I told him no."

Clint knew Steve has been trying to go on missions with the two assassins for the past few months in order to, as Steve put it, "understand his teammates better." Both agents have been able to deny him with various excuses, but quite frankly, Clint was tired of him asking.

"I may let him come on mine. It's a distance recon so Fury shouldn't have an issue with it." Clint told her.

Natasha grimaced. "I hate those."

"I know you do. But I think Steve is a bit more patient than you are." Clint teased his partner. Natasha shoved him with a glare.

"I am patient. I just can't stand sitting on a roof for hours on end in the sun watching nothing happen."

Clint shook his head but smirked at her. "And that's the difference between you and me, Widow." He stood. "I'm going to take a shower before I have to leave."

"Okay, but make sure you lock your bathroom door. Stark walked in on me showering yesterday."

"That explains the black eye he was so tight lipped about. He's still trying to catch us sleeping together?" Clint asked.

"Yes. He still doesn't understand our relationship." Natasha said, standing with him.

"Not many people do, Nat." Clint said, heading towards the door. "I'll see you when you get back." He deliberately took the stairs, instead of the vents. He wanted to run into Steve.

He walked into the common living area. Bruce was making coffee in the kitchen and Thor and Steve were watching the television intently.

"Careful, Clint," Bruce said. "Tony just headed off towards your suite."

Clint shook his head. "Thanks for the heads up, Doc. Hey, Cap, still want to go on a mission?"

Steve turned his head sharply and nodded.

"Jet leaves in two hours. I'll brief you on the way. Be ready." Clint told him before heading to his suite.

He turned the corner silently and saw Tony with his ear pressed to the door. Clint noiselessly climbed into a vent and dropped without a sound in his room. Deciding to have a little fun with Tony, he went to his laptop and turned on a porn video. He then made his way back into the vent and waited. A few seconds later, He watched as Tony burst into the suite with a yell. He looked around, confused before he noticed the laptop. Clint dropped down behind him.

"Tony," He said.

"Ahh!" the billionaire screamed, jumping to face Clint. "I swear to God, I'm going to put a bell on you and Red."

"Tony, Natasha and I are not together. She is like my sister. We know way too much about the other to have a relationship."

"So you're telling me that the two of you have never slept together?" Tony asked.

Clint shrugged. "Of course we have. But it was for comfort after a particularly hard mission or if we were frustrated; never for love. We're partners, not lovers."

"I will never understand either of you." Tony said, stalking out of the room.

Clint closed his door with a sigh. He stripped his mission vest off of his sore body. Normally, Fury would give them down time between missions but apparently this took precedence.

He took a hot shower to relieve his tense muscles. He scrubbed off the sand and sweat that clung to his body.

After his shower, he donned his back up uniform and headed down to the weapons room. He grabbed his bow and replaced the arrows in his quiver. He noticed that Steve's shield was already gone.

Clint met Steve in the Avengers' briefing room.

"Gentleman," JARVIS said before either man could say anything. "Your jet has just arrived."

They headed to the roof and took seats inside the small jet. Clint nodded at the pilot and they were off.

"The mission is a distance recon." Clint said, handing Steve the file. "Mark is a man named Antonio Vitelli. He's an ex-mobster. Now he's got his hands in all kinds of pots. He's been on shield's radar for a while now and I guess they are finally doing something about it. Looks like Vitelli has been part of a drugs and human trafficking scheme, specifically child trafficking. We are just doing recon now but the mission could be bumped to an assassination after my debrief with Fury in twenty four hours. Looks like SHIELD got a hit when he applied for an apartment under the name Jake Daily, one of his aliases."

"Okay, so what do we do?" Steve asked, eyes on the file.

"We'll be posted up on a rooftop a few buildings over from his apartment. It's far enough for us not to be spotted, but still well inside of my sight range."

"So I'll need binoculars." Steve said with a smile.

Clint smirked. "I packed a pair just for you, Cap." He checked his watch. "We should be there soon."

"We could have driven." Steve said. "It's an hour outside of the city."

"Well, you know SHIELD, Cap: unnecessarily extravagant for an no particular reason." Clint said getting his things together. "They're dropping us in a field. They have a car waiting."

Steve handed Clint a parachute before strapping his own on. "Of course they wouldn't land…" Steve muttered to himself.

"Get ready to jump," The pilot shouted as he opened the hatch. "Count to three and go!" The two Avengers stood at the end of the ramp, counted to three, and leapt.

At the right height, they released they're chutes and their descent slowed considerably. Both were highly experienced with jumping out of planes and landed on the ground smoothly, without incident. As promised, a black SUV was there to take them to their rooftop. The agents didn't question Steve's presence, knowing that fury trusted him.

There was no talking in the car as they sped towards their destination and within a few minutes, the men were dropped at a brick office building. Clint deftly broke in and they made their way to the roof.

Clint looked over the west wall. "Those are the apartments. Building in the middle, second floor; we have a perfect view into the apartment. I can see the mark and a woman. His wife I'm presuming."

"Clint, I've said it before and I will say it again, your eyesight is amazing." Steve said as he squinted to try to see what Clint saw. "How far are we anyway?"

"It's only about half a mile." Clint told him handing him with a wry smile. "Better get comfortable, Cap. It's gonna be a long night."


	3. Surprises

Lillian had just poured herself a cup of coffee when she heard frantic knocking on her door. She looked at the clock on her stove and saw that it was only 7:30.

She opened the door and saw Amelia standing there, sporting a black eye. James was in her arms, crying. Lillian quickly ushered them in.

"I'm so sorry but I didn't know who else to go to." Amelia said desperately.

"Okay, why don't you go put James in my bed and then we'll talk." Lillian said calmly. "I'm going to call down to my office and let Debbie know I am going to be late."

Amelia went to lay James down and Lillian called Debbie.

"Debbie, I need you to take care of things for a few hours. An emergency just came up. Keys are in my desk if you need to give a tour." Lillian told her before hanging up.

She was pouring Amelia a cup of coffee when she came back in.

"Tell me what happened." Lillian said, handing the mug to her.

"I feel like I can trust you." Amelia started, shakily. "I know we just met but you have a very trusting personality."

"Amelia, tell me who hit you."

"He doesn't mean it. He just needs someone to take his anger out on when his deals fall through." Amelia said to herself. Lillian thought she was in shock.

"Amelia, did Jake hit you?"

Amelia laughed. "Jake…Jake doesn't exist." She suddenly froze. "You aren't supposed to know that."

"Amelia," Lillian said comfortingly. "I want to help you. I know people that can help you but you have to help me out here."

Amelia hesitated, but slowly nodded. "My husband hit me. He had received a phone call late last night about some deal falling through. I made the mistake of asking what was wrong and he punched me. I couldn't do anything back because I know he would kill James."

"Why would he kill his own son?" Lillian asked her distractedly. She suddenly felt eyes on her back.

"Because he isn't his son," She said.

Lillian's attention snapped back to Amelia, her suspicions when she met the family confirmed.

Amelia rattled off the story. "It was almost four years ago, my husband, Antonio, and I were living in Manhattan. I hated him but was afraid to leave. I still am. I met this man. He was so sweet to me but he was old fashioned. He knew I was married and was nothing more than a friend to me. One night, I went to meet him, and I was in the same state I am now. He was so angry. He wanted to kill him and I begged him not to because I knew that even if he succeeded, he would never be safe. That night, we made love and I got pregnant. Antonio can't have children so when he found out, he said that he would kill me and my child if I ever told or if I ever left. He packed us up and we moved. I never even got to tell him goodbye."

Lillian hugged the woman. "I will get you and James out of this situation. You have my word." She led her to the room James was in and had her lie down.

She had turned around when Amelia caught her arm. "Please," She said, looking into the other woman's eyes. "If he knows how comfortable I am around you, he'll make us leave."

Lillian kept her mask on but inside, the rage was burning through her. "I won't let him." She said simply. Amelia just nodded her head and let go, bringing her son against her chest.

Lillian headed back to the living room and still felt the glare of eyes on her back. She took out her cell phone and called a number that she swore she would never call again.

"Nick, I need a favor."

Clint had already seen enough of his mark to know that he wanted him dead. At around eleven, two hours after Steve and Clint had arrived, his mark entered his apartment talking on the phone. Through the window, they watched as he hung up and then beat on his wife, her back to the window. It took everything Clint had to not take out his bow and shoot the bastard through his eye.

It was now morning and he watched as his mark left. Clint glanced at his watch: 7:30. He saw movement within the apartment and watched as the wife carried a sleeping child out of the apartment and next door. He got a look at her face and saw that one eye was barely open and severely bruised. He heard an intake of breath from Steve.

"Keep it together, Cap." He said, eyes never leaving the wife. A woman answered the door and ushered them in. Clint thought she looked familiar. He watched as they talked for ten minutes before the wife was led to another room. The woman came back into the living room and got on the phone.

Five minutes later the comm in his ear came to life. "Barton, report." Fury said.

"Not much to report. I have eyes on his home. He likes to beat his wife around."

"I got a friendly on the ground. She wants to rendezvous."

Clint was confused. "Where are we meeting?"

"She says you're looking at her." Fury said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"The neighbor?"

"She's leaving her living room window open. Don't be seen, Barton." Fury said before disconnecting.

"I really hate that man sometimes." Clint said as he got to his feet.

"I wonder how Fury knows her." Steve said.

"I don't know but I'm sure as hell going to find out. Keep your comm on. I'm zip-lining down. I'll give you the signal to follow me when I figure out what the hell is going on."

He grabbed his bow and set an arrow for a grappling hook. He took a deep breath and nocked the arrow. As he let the breath out, he let the arrow fly. It attached itself directly onto the roof of the neighbor's apartment, exactly where Clint wanted it to land. He pulled the rope taut and tied it to the door of the roof. He took two handles out of his bag and handed one to Steve, before putting the bow around his shoulders.

"I'll keep you updated." Clint said before attaching the handle and jumping. He flew through the air, squeezing the handle in order to slow his descent, and leapt deftly through the open window.

He felt the gun before he saw it. He put his hands up and slowly turned around.

"Should've gone a little farther," The woman said, lowering her weapon. "I could feel your eyes the moment Amelia entered my apartment, Hawkeye."

Clint was thrown. "How do you know who I am?"

She holstered her gun. "Well, for one, you used an arrow. You are the only assassin on earth that still uses that primitive weapon."

Clint went on the defensive. "That primitive weapon has saved the lives of millions on numerous occasions."

The woman laughed, and Clint was slightly mesmerized by the sound. "Okay, I will give you that one. But it's your sign, your tell. Everyone knows it's you when they see an arrow."

"And criminals everywhere fear it." Clint said.

"Perhaps," She looked thoughtfully at him. "I can see why Phil liked you so much."

Clint grabbed his bow and in the blink of an eye had an arrow pointed straight at her heart at the mention of his former handler. "Who are you?"

The woman looked unaffected at the sight of the arrow but slowly narrowed her eyes to glare. "Put that away you idiot."

"You have three seconds…"

She rolled her eyes. "My name is Lillian Coulson. Now put that damn thing away."

Clint hesitated at the name but kept the bow trained on her. "Did you just say Coulson?"

"Yes Coulson. Phil was my brother."

"Phil never told me about any sister." Clint accused.

"He wouldn't. He went through extraordinary lengths to keep that information classified. Call Fury, he'll tell you." Lillian said, completely relaxed.

Clint finally lowered his weapon. "How many people know about you?"

"Including Fury? One," She said.

Before Clint could say anything, he heard Steve in his ear. "Hawkeye, status report."

"All clear, Captain. Land on the ground and come through the front door. Don't be seen." Clint told him and Lillian looked at him warily.

"Who was that?"

"A member of my team," Clint answered, unlocking her front door.

"You need a team for a recon?" Lillian scoffed.

Clint returned her glare from earlier but ignored the comment. "How do you know so much about my mission anyway? Even Fury can't give you classified information."

"I have SHIELD clearance level 8." Lillian said matter of factly.

"Are you an agent?"

"Was an agent: Codename Eagle," She said with a smirk, knowing he would recognize the name.

"Eagle?" He asked incredulously. "But that's Agent…"

"D'ville," Lillian finished. "One of the stipulations my brother came up with that I had to agree to in order to become an agent in the first place."

"All kinds of revelations today," Clint muttered under his breath. "So, Phil has a sister, she's the Eagle, marksman second only to yours truly, and she has a higher security clearance than mine."

"I tried my damnedest to beat your records." Lillian said.

Clint heard a thump outside of the door. He trained his bow on it. "Yes, but you never did."

Steve opened the door and Clint lowered his weapon. "Steve Rodgers, Lillian Coulson."

Steve's eyes widened as he shook her hand. "Coulson?"

"Yeah, Phil's little sister." Clint said, holstering his gun.

Lillian glared at him. "Younger sister," She corrected.

"Whatever," Clint said, annoyed. "Now are you going to tell us why we left our post?"

"I've briefed myself on your mission and have new information for you." Lillian said, sitting down and inviting them to do the same. "I'm sure you witnessed the beating the bastard did to his wife. Apparently some sort of deal fell through for him. From my research he's had dealings with the Spanish Cartel in the area; human trafficking."

"You are not telling us anything we didn't already know." Clint told her.

Lillian narrowed her eyes. "Are you just going to be an ass the entire time?"

"If I want to be." Clint said childishly.

"I've lived here for three years," She continued. "I have friends on the force. Last week, they busted one of the Cartel members. Followed him back to his house; it was loaded with drugs, weapons, and bodies; dead and alive. They also found evidence of a correspondence with the Russians."

"What does the Spanish Cartel want with the Russians?" Steve asked.

"They don't know. Right after the bust, SHIELD took over the op." Lillian said.

"Why didn't Fury brief us?" Clint asked suspiciously.

"It wasn't your mission." Lillian said simply. "Looks like he has another agent assigned to infiltrate."

"Natasha," Clint said. "Figures Fury would put her on that."

Lillian nodded. "Case brief said the Russians are stationed in the area which means your partner is around."

"I was wondering why Fury put us both on a solo. He hasn't done that since Loki." Clint said. "He knew they connected and he knew we'd be thrown together at some point."

"I don't believe so." Steve said. "Your mission was recon, possible assassination. You weren't supposed to get close to the Cartel, just Vitelli."

"It doesn't make sense though. Why is Vitelli so important?" Lillian asked.

"I don't know." Clint said, kneading his forehead with the heel of his hand. "We'll have to keep looking. I doubt he's going to bring his work home with him so I'll have to follow him."

"There's another issue." Lillian said. "His wife and her son are in danger."

"Okay, Steve, looks like this mission just got more complicated." Clint said.

"We can't move the family. Vitelli will know something is up." Steve said.

"He has resources." Lillian said. "He won't rest until the both of them are dead."

"Why would he want to kill his own family?" Steve asked dubiously.

"Men like him don't have morals." Clint explained. "If something gets in their way of what they want, they dispose of them."

"Especially when the child isn't even his," Lillian told them. "The wife had an affair four years ago. Turns out Vitelli is infertile and threatened to kill her and the baby if she left."

Steve began to pace the room.

"What's up, Cap?" Clint asked.

"This can't be possible…" He muttered to himself.

"Steve…"

"What's her name?" Steve asked Lillian.

"Amelia," Lillian responded.

"Cap, what the…"

Steve interrupted Clint. "I know her. I know who she is. She had a different last name back then, Williamson I think. She worked in a coffee shop in Manhattan. I knew I recognized her."

Lillian glanced at Clint, who looked utterly confused. "Williamson is another alias."

"We slept together once." Steve continued. "Just once. And then I never saw her again. No note, nothing. I thought I had recognized her on the roof but I couldn't be sure. I don't believe in coincidences."

"Neither do I," Clint said. "Chances are that this is the same woman and this is your child. Congrats Cap, you're a Dad."

Steve glared at him.

Lillian stepped in before a fight broke out between the teammates. "Look, guys, regardless of if it is the same woman, we should ease her into this. Does she know who you are?"

"You mean that I'm Captain America? Yes." Steve said.

"Okay. Just so happens that you're the kid's favorite superhero." Lillian told him.

"I have to get back to the post." Clint said, looking out the window. "Steve, you're going to keep an eye on Amelia and the kid. Stay here with Lillian and when Amelia wakes up, I want you to brief her. For now, she needs to keep on like nothing is happening." He handed Steve a case. "Give this to her. Inside is a bug with GPS capabilities. It'll let me know where he is and what he's saying. She needs to get it on his person without him knowing." He reached around for his bow. "I'm heading back to the roof. I'll let you know when I see him and you get her back into the apartment."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's slightly OOC of Cap but just fly with it.


	4. Hero

"I know he's your teammate," Lillian told Steve once Clint left. "But he is an asshole."

"He can be." Steve sighed. "He only gets like that on missions, particularly when things aren't going the right way."

"They rarely do." Lillian pointed out.

"And therein lies the problem." Steve said with a small smile. "Besides, anyone can get cranky after three days of no sleep."

Lillian heard movement in her room. "One of them is up. Just stay here for a minute." She slowly opened her door and saw that Amelia had just stood up from the bed.

"Lillian, I'm so sorry I dragged you into this." Amelia said. "I've gotten through it before and I'll do it again."

"You don't have to do it by yourself, Amelia." She gestured for her to sit down on the bed and quickly followed. "Amelia, I used to work for an organization that specializes in covert operations."

"You used to work for them?"

"Yes. I retired three years ago. After you came in this morning, I contacted the director of the organization and he informed me that they have an agent following your husband. He's popped up on their radar numerous times. I've spoken with the agent and he's willing to help you, but you have to help us. We are going to get you out of this situation."

"It all seems too good to be true." Amelia told her.

"I can assure you that he is the best at what he does." Lillian said, shrinking slightly inside at the admission.

"What do you need me to do?" She asked, suddenly determined. "I will do anything if it means my son will be away from that monster."

Lillian nodded, slightly surprised that that was all it took to get Amelia on the defensive. "The agent has another member of his team with him. Now I don't want you to panic when you meet him."

Amelia frowned. "Why would I panic?" Lillian just shook her head and stood.

"You'll find out in a minute."

Amelia followed her into the living room and gasped. There, standing in front of her, was the man that has haunted her dreams for the past three years. She couldn't help but stare as tears welled up in her eyes, threatening to fall. This was it, he was her Savior.

"Steve," She breathed out. Without warning, she sprinted across the room and launched herself into his arms.

He stood there like a statue, surprise evident on his face. After a moment though, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer, burying his head into her hair. It still smelled like strawberry shampoo, he noted.

Amelia sobbed into his chest, chanting his name. Steve tried to soothe her.

She finally looked up at him, eyes bloodshot. "How can you ever forgive me?"

"There's nothing to forgive. He's a terrible man and I will never let him hurt you again." Steve kissed her forehead. She rested her head on his chest and sighed in contentment.

Lillian felt as if she were intruding on a personal moment. She turned to walk away but Steve caught her eye.

"Lillian, stay." He said. "We need a plan."

"We'll come up with one. For now, the two of you need to talk before Vitelli comes home." Lillian said before retreating to her home office.

Steve led Amelia over to the couch and sat down, pulling her into his lap.

"I didn't think I was ever going to see you again." Amelia confessed. "I thought I was going to be trapped with that man until he got himself killed, or I killed him myself."

"I looked for you." Steve told her. "For a year after you left. I guess your husband can disappear easily."

"You have no idea. I've had over thirty last names in the past five years." Amelia told him. "It's hard to keep track after a while."

"Mia," Steve said, using his nickname for her. Her stomach fluttered. "What happened? After we made love, I never saw you again. You were so hurt, all I wanted to do was hold you in my arms and never let you go. I wanted to kill him. I still do."

She buried her face into his shoulder. "He found out. I don't know how, but he found out I was having an affair. He kept me under lock and key for a few weeks while he was waiting for a deal. I…" Amelia paused. "I got really sick. He had no choice but to take me to the doctor. I was pregnant and I knew it wasn't his. He can't have children. He was so angry. I thought for sure that he was going to kill me and the baby. But he didn't. All he said was that if I ever told another soul that it wasn't his, he would kill both of us. I couldn't even contact you. I couldn't tell you that you were going to be a father. He packed us up that night and moved us to California. You have to understand that I couldn't put my son's life at risk, even for you."

"What's his name?" Steve asked quietly.

She looked up into his baby blue eyes. "James," She told him.

Nothing prepared him for that answer. The memories of his long lost best friend flashed in front of his eyes. Love welled in his heart for the woman in his arms. He brought her face up to meet his and kissed her, putting all of his love into the kiss, leaving nothing behind. Three years of love and passion was exchanged in that one kiss.

"I'd like to meet him." Steve said, surfacing for air.

Amelia hesitated. "I would like him to meet you too; but not as his father; not yet. I'm not sure how to tell him that quite yet. Is that okay?"

Steve nodded. "I understand. I'm sure it'll be quite a shock to him."

Amelia crawled off his lap. "I'll be right back. Just be prepared. He loves Captain America."

She walked into the bedroom and sat down on the bed next to her son. She gently shook him awake. "Baby, Mommy needs you to wake up. There is someone I want you to meet."

James slowly opened his eyes and looked at his mother. "Mommy, why were you crying this morning?"

Amelia choked back a sob. "Daddy and I got into a fight, sweetie. It's okay."

James sat up and kissed her swollen eye. He suddenly had the eyes of someone much older. "I love you, Mommy." She hugged him tight. Her little boy was wise beyond his age.

Finally, Amelia released him. "I have a surprise for you baby."

His eyes melted back to express the excitement that only a three year old could possess. "What is it?"

She picked him up and walked towards the living room. As soon as little James saw Captain America, his jaw dropped. Amelia set him down, but James made no move towards his favorite hero.

"I think you broke him." Amelia laughed.

Steve squatted down so that he was more or less at James' level. "Hello son, I'm…"

"Captain America!" The boy yelled, flinging himself into Steve's arms. He caught the little boy and hugged him tight. Amelia had to turn away, the sight too much for her to bear. She'd been dreaming of this moment since James was born.

Suddenly, she felt a tug at her shirt. She turned around and looked down at the eyes of a very angry three year old. He had his hands on his hips and said, "You knew Captain America and you didn't tell me?"

Steve stifled a laugh behind his hand.

"I…"

James put his hand up. "There is no excuse." Amelia stared at her son.

"Are you sure he's three?" Steve asked, laughing.

James grabbed Steve's hand and took him to the couch. As soon as Steve sat, James took his spot in Steve's lap. Before Steve could say anything, his comm buzzed.

"Captain, I have a visual on the mark: ETA 2 minutes. Get them back in their apartment and make sure she bugs him." Clint said.

"10/4, Hawkeye," Steve responded.

James' eyes got big. "You're talking to Hawkeye? That is so cool!"

Steve stood with James and looked at Amelia. "I need to get you next door, now." He handed her James and took out the box Clint gave him. "Inside is a bug. You need to somehow get it on Antonio. Hawkeye is going to follow him and get some more information. You need to act like normal. He can't know anything is going on." He turned to James. "I have a mission for you, son."

James nodded enthusiastically. "I need you to be a spy. It's a secret mission. You can't tell anyone that you saw me or Hawkeye. Not even your dad. Everything that happened today cannot be known. I promise I'll come get you but you have to be quiet until then, okay?"

"I won't let you down, Captain America." James saluted him. Steve pushed them through the door. "He'll be home any minute. The second he leaves Hawkeye will let me know he's gone and I will come get you. Don't leave your apartment until I do." Amelia nodded and went into her own apartment. Before she closed the door, she turned back and kissed him.

"Be safe." She told him.

"You too."

Steve was able to make it back into the apartment before Antonio even pulled up.

"He looks a lot like you, Cap." Clint said through the comm.

"Yeah, he does. I don't know how to be a father."

"Maybe not but Amelia seems like she's a good mother. She'll help you out. You know you can't depend on us. The only person in that tower who can take care of themselves efficiently is Pepper." Clint said.

Steve laughed. "She keeps us all in check. How she hasn't killed Tony yet is a mystery. Hell, I'd like to kill him most of the time."

Clint was silent for a minute. "Looks like she got the bug on him. Your girl works quickly, Cap.

"What's going on?"

"Bastard's apologizing for hitting her." He stopped again. "He's telling her he's working late. He sounds happy."

"There must be a deal going on. Hawkeye, think you can get in touch with Natasha?" Steve asked.

"I'll put my bow on it that wherever he's going, Natasha will be there." Clint said. "He's on the move again, carrying what looks like a suit bag."

Steve glanced at his watch. "It's 9 in the morning. What could he possibly need a suit for?"

"No idea. I'm trailing him. I'll keep you updated." Steve's comm buzzed out. He shook his head before heading back out to bring his long lost love and the son he never knew he had back to the apartment of the unknown sister of a man who's been dead for three years. Clint was right. This mission sure did get a lot more complicated.


	5. Enter the Spider

Clint didn't immediately follow Vitelli. He had the bug on him and Clint was fairly certain that wherever Vitelli was going, Natasha would be there.

Instead, he made his way to one of his safe houses in the area. Over the 10 years that he and Natasha had been partners, they have established safe houses all over the world, apart from the SHIELD safe houses. Although both agents swore their allegiances to SHIELD, neither could pledge complete loyalty to anyone other than themselves, and now, each other.

As he keyed in to the abandoned warehouse, he noticed the telling signs that someone had been there. Always cautious, he pulled the bow off of his shoulders and nocked an arrow. He slowly made his way in and through the building before he lowered his bow, satisfied that whoever had been there was now gone. He went to the weapons stash and noticed that the only weapons missing were Natasha's favorites; her Widow bites, her pistol, and a few knives. Clint smiled at her predictability, though he would never tell her that.

He reluctantly placed his bow and quiver on the table in exchange for his sniper. He checked his magazines and placed a pistol in a holster on his thigh. He grabbed a few knives after a second thought and strapped them to his utility belt.

Clint had no idea what he was walking in to, something he hated. Clint Barton hated surprises. They usually led to broken hands and fingers or even a bullet wound. It was difficult to creep up on the assassin (really the only time being when he had his hearing aids out) but Tony knew of the consequences of surprising Clint. His hand was in a cast for six weeks after placing a hand on his shoulder when Clint thought he was alone. It had been after a battle where his hearing aides had shorted out, and he was waiting on Natasha to bring his spares from his room on the helicarrier. Clint was apologetic of course, but always had to suppress a smile when Tony stomped into a room in order to make Clint aware of his presence.

He locked the warehouse back up and checked the GPS. Vitelli was close, less than two miles away. Knowing he was conspicuous at 10 in the morning with a sniper rifle attached to his back, he procured a car and hotwired it, making his way to a posh looking mansion. There were no other buildings nearby, only trees were surrounding the house. He shrugged. Looks like he was going to live up to his code name and make his nest in one of the trees. 'Wouldn't be the first time', he thought wryly.

He parked the stolen car on the street, about half a mile from the house. There were cars littered in the driveway and street, and Clint rightly assumed that there was a party taking place.

He found a tree with thick, high branches that was a safe distance away from the house. The party was in the backyard, giving Clint a perfect view of all the guests. He lied down in his impromptu nest and set up his rifle. Although the scope was unnecessary, Clint used it and easily spotted Vitelli, engaged in a conversation with a dark and foreboding looking character. Attached to this man's arm, was a beautiful woman, dressed in an emerald green cocktail dress that matched her eyes and complemented her fiery red hair. Clint smirked. Bingo.

He pressed his comm. "Hawkeye to Agent Hill."

"Agent Hill, go ahead Hawkeye." She responded.

"Can you patch me in to the Black Widow's frequency?"

"Am I going to regret this?" Hill asked, sighing.

"Probably," Clint answered with a smile.

"Fine, but I'm throwing you under the bus, Barton."

"Duly noted, thanks Hill." He said. He heard the line transfer and he smoothly said, "I love the color. You can see your hair from a mile away."

The only sign that he caught of her hearing him was a slight twitch of her fingers. It was impossible for anyone else to catch but Clint knew what he was looking for.

Natasha kept on with the charade and laughed at something the man had said. Clint queued back in to Vitelli's bug.

"Such a beautiful woman," He heard him say. "Perhaps one day I can show you my collections." Clint grimaced. It was so cliché. He also thought that Vitelli was a bit ballsy, hitting on her while she was attached to a rather frightening looking man. He must be very confident in whatever deal was about to take place.

"I would be obliged, some other time." Natasha said in her native Russian accent. "My dear," She said to her companion. "I'll be right back. I need to freshen up."

He nodded gruffly at her and Clint watched as she walked into the house. He followed her through the scope until she stopped so that she was out of his sight. Clint knew it was intentional because she was pissed.

"I swear on my life Barton," She said through his comm. "If you compromise me I will personally see that you die slowly and painfully."

"Always the ray of sunshine, Tasha. Don't worry, I'm just observing."

"And what, pray tell, are you observing on my mission?" He could practically feel the heat of rage coming off of her body.

"Mr. _Collections_ is my mark." Clint told her.

"How did you…" She paused. "I don't know why I'm surprised. When did you get close enough to bug him?"

"It's a long story. Can you get away today without compromising yourself?"

She finally stepped in front of a window and shot an impatient look in his general direction. He chuckled. "Just contact me when you're free from tall, dark and terrifying."

He saw her lips quirk into a small smile. "Be safe, Widow."

"Stay silent, Hawk." She growled. Clint couldn't help but chuckle again as Natasha made her way back to the party.

"They are coming tonight." Clint heard Vitelli say menacingly.

"I have faith that they will come. My faith in you, however, is lacking immensely." The other man said with a heavy Russian accent.

"I don't work for you so your opinion of me matters very little." Vitelli hissed.

Natasha chose that exact moment to walk in to the conversation. Although Clint wanted to shoot her for interrupting them when they were about to expose so much, he knew that Natasha would be able to extract more information than he would ever be able to.

The Russian turned to her. "This party is boring me greatly." He said in Russian. Clint was enormously happy (for not the first time) that Natasha had taught him Russian.

"But dear," She answered fluidly. "Your wife…"

"I am taking you to a spa and I will have someone pick you up when the bitch is gone. I have to work tonight."

Clint watched Natasha's face spread into a grin and her eyes light up in excitement. Clint couldn't stop the bubble of glee that crept up his throat. Natasha…at a spa? He could nearly see her dying inside.

He knew she heard him laugh because the next second she quickly arranged her fingers so that she was flipping him the bird. It was risky but she was willing to take it for her obnoxious partner. It only made Clint laugh harder.

"Oh you're going to have so much fun at the spa, Tasha." He wheezed out.

"Oh dear I would just kill for a spa day." Natasha said. Clint was the only one able to hear the stress on the word kill. He knew he should be a little afraid but couldn't overlook the hilarity of her situation.

The Russian turned to Vitelli, who was throwing daggers at him from his eyes. "I will see you tonight. You had better not fail. In the meantime, why don't you go home to your wife and son? You never know what might happen to them." He marched off with Natasha firmly attached to his arm, a mask in place.

"Fucking Russians," Clint heard Vitelli grumble as he pulled out his phone. "Russians are coming." He said to the other party in Italian. "No, I have not spoken to him. I do not know if they are coming."

Clint was officially confused. Were the Italians involved after all? And who was this extra party that was joining them? What the hell had Fury gotten them in to?

Clint made sure Vitelli was checked into a hotel nearby before heading back to the safe house. He keyed in and immediately had a gun at his temple.

"You're an obnoxious bastard."

Clint raised his eyebrows. "Did you get a manicure?"

Natasha growled. "You seriously have no self-preservation skills."

"Ten years and you're just coming to this realization?"

She finally lowered the gun. "You could've compromised me."

"Yeah right," Clint walked to the table and placed the sniper down. He picked up his bow and a shudder ran through his body as he ran his hand over the smooth surface. "I know the Widow when I see her."

"Look, I have about two hours before Volosky sends his men to collect me." Natasha said. Clint noticed that she had already stripped off her dress and donned her catsuit. "Care to tell me what's going on?"

"I'll tell you as much as I know which, after today, has me doubting that it's much at all." He put the quiver around his shoulders followed by his bow. "C'mon, let's go meet Steve."

They jumped into the stolen car and drove back to the apartment complex.

"Are you sure this is secure?" Natasha asked.

"No, I'm not." Clint told her honestly.

Natasha looked at him sharply. She knew that he would never let something as serious as security go so easily. "What's going on, Clint?"

He didn't answer, his eyes glued forward. Natasha didn't push. She had a feeling she was about to find out.

Suddenly, he pushed his comm link and spoke. "Captain, I'll be at the door in 2." They drove up to the complex and parked. "The Widow is with me."

The partners walked up the stairs and Clint rapped on the last door. Steve opened it, a pistol trained on them. He lowered it quickly and swung the door open for them to enter.

Natasha saw that there were three people in the apartment that she didn't know. The Black Widow came to the surface. There was a woman sitting on the couch with a little boy curled up in her lap, staring at them. Natasha thought the little boy looked eerily familiar. When Steve sat down next to the woman and the child, Natasha tensed. Clint grabbed her arm and whispered in her ear. "He doesn't know." She nodded curtly and shot a questioning look to Steve, who merely shrugged.

Natasha turned her attention to the other woman in the room. She was standing in the small kitchen with a mug in her hand. Natasha smelled the coffee and craved it. Suddenly, she knew who she was. Her mask faltered. "Agent D'ville?"

The woman smiled at her. "Agent Romanoff, it's good to see you again."

Natasha turned to glare at her partner, who watched the interaction with a stupid look on his face. "How the hell do you know each other?" He asked.

"We worked together before." Natasha said. "Someone needs to tell me what the hell is going on."

"No way," She heard from the couch. "You're the Black Widow!" The little boy had his mouth open as he scrambled to his feet. She glared at him but he didn't look fazed. In the ten years she's been working for SHIELD, she's been recognized five times and it took this little boy seconds upon meeting her.

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are! You're one of the Avengers!" He insisted before looking at Clint. "And you're Hawkeye! You have a bow and arrow! Captain America was talking to you earlier!"

Clint shared a look with his partner. "What's your name kid?"

"James," He said excitedly.

"Okay James, you can call us Clint and Natasha." Clint kneeled down in front of him. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Yes, sir!"

Clint held out his bow. Natasha and Steve both looked on in shock. "Can you look after this for me?"

James reached for it hesitantly. "Are you sure Mr. Clint?"

He nodded at him and he took it, his face lighting up again. "I don't let just anyone hold it, James. You have to be very careful with it."

"I won't let you down, Mr. Clint."

"I know you won't. Can you go into Ms. Lillian's room? We all need to talk." James nodded and walked carefully into the bedroom, his eyes never leaving the bow.

Clint stood back up and Natasha could feel the tension rolling off his shoulders. He wouldn't be comfortable again until he had his bow back.

"Clint…"

He ignored her and turned towards Lillian. "Let's get this over with. Agent D'ville?"

Natasha watched as the woman in question glared at her partner. Natasha quickly got defensive. "Start talking."

The agent looked at Natasha and said with no preamble, "Agent Romanoff, Phil Coulson was my brother."

Clint's reflexes had him grabbing Natasha's swiftly moving arm, preventing the death of Lillian. The comforting hand on her arm also stopped her from reaching with her other hand for a knife hidden in her bra.

"Clint…" She hissed through her teeth.

"It's the truth." Clint told her. "No one knew but Fury."

Natasha's eyes darted around the room before resting on a picture of Phil and Lillian together. She finally relaxed her arms.

"Okay," Clint said releasing her arm. "Now that that little gem is out of the way, let's get down to business." Clint filled Natasha in on his case and the information that Lillian had gathered.

Natasha was pacing the room. "My mission was to get in close with a Russian government official, Kira Volosky. He's not here on any apparent government business, which is why he flew onto SHIELD's radar. There have been reports of a possible Russian sleeper cell."

"Fuck," Clint said. "Now we're fighting invisible enemies."

"Doesn't SHIELD have the resources to detect sleeper cells?" Steve asked.

"Yes, they do," Natasha said. "But they've never come across one so deep and spread across. Volosky has been speaking to the Italians, Spanish and German."

"And SHIELD knew all of this when they sent you in?" Clint asked.

"No, I hacked into Volosky's files earlier."

"Christ woman, you've been undercover for like six hours." Clint pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Well I'm a lot more productive when I don't have an annoying bastard chattering away in my ear." Natasha shot back.

"So what exactly are we looking at here?" Steve said, interrupting whatever snarky comment Clint was about to make.

Natasha looked at him seriously. "Honestly Captain, I think we are looking at the possible start of World War three."


	6. Running out of Time

Nicholas Fury considered himself a fairly patient man on a normal day. He's prevented countless wars, cleared the streets of the lowest of the low, and even deals with the agenda-driven Council on a daily basis. He hasn't shot any of the Avengers (although he's wanted to on too many occasions to even count) and he manages to keep Stark out of his systems fifty percent of the time. That in itself takes the patience of a saint.

But today was not a normal day. Nick Fury sensed this when he stepped on the bridge of his helicarrier after a particularly difficult meeting with the Council and Hill informed him that Agent Barton was waiting to speak with him. Unless they were under the intense and direct threat of death and destruction, his agents knew that they were not to call him in the middle of a mission.

"Fury," He answered.

"What the fuck have you gotten us into?" Barton said deathly calm.

"Agent Barton, I suggest you repeat yourself."

"Bullshit, Fury. Not only did you put Romanoff and me on separate missions, but then our missions cross, something that neither of us were briefed on that it could possibly happen. Now, both of our marks have connections to sleeper cells in the goddamn United States and **still** we have no explanation. We are **blind** out here, Fury."

"Agent Barton, we had no knowledge of the extent the connections your marks had to each other. You were both sent in to gain information on what these two people were doing. This does not mean that we sent you in there blind. Due to the information that we've received from you two, the Council is determining the best course of action. As of right now, I am pulling the two of you off of your active missions until I get clearance from the council. We are establishing a false death of Agent Romanoff's alias and I want the two of you, Captain Rodgers and Coulson to relocate to the safe house that I pretend you don't have." Nick finished. He heard whispers and then the telling sign that the phone was being passed to another person.

"Director Fury, I'm afraid relocation is not going to be that simple." Nick sighed. Captain Rodgers was the only Avenger that seemed like he had his head on straight and he was the only Avenger that infuriated Nick the least.

"And why is that, Captain Rodgers?" Nick pinched the bridge of his nose, a migraine coming on.

"Sir, Vitelli's family is in direct danger. If we move them, he will know something is wrong. If we don't, I fear for what he will do to them."

"And how is this suddenly my problem, Captain?"

"Sir, the boy… he's my son." Yes, Nick thought. A migraine was a definite.

"What the hell do you mean he's your son?" He practically shouted.

The phone was passed once more. "We don't have the time to explain, Director." Romanoff said. "We are taking them with us. Barton has a bug on Vitelli which shows him at a hotel. There is a meeting tonight where both of our parties will be present. Sir, you cannot take us off of this right now."

"It's not my decision, Romanoff. I'll brief Stark, Banner and Thor of what's going on. I'm sure you will be expecting them shortly." Nick said, knowing he'd be unable to stop the rest of the motley crew from joining them. Just as well, he had a feeling he'd need them to all be together in case things went any further south.

He hung up the phone and took a deep breath. "Hill," He barked.

She handed him aspirin without a word.

Clint shook with barely containable anger. He had never been taken off of a mission before. Granted, this one was not his fault, but dammit he was going to finish what he started.

"Tasha,"

"Clint, drop it." Natasha told him. Although she had her qualms about SHIELD, she knew when to obey a direct order. "We don't have the information or the man power to take on an operation this big and you know it. Let's get to the safe house and wait till the team gets here. We'll even have Stark hack SHIELD for more information. Now calm the fuck down." She told her partner.

"You're terrible at comforting people." Clint told her.

She glared at him. "I never had to comfort anybody until they stuck me with a blubbering idiot."

Clint pushed his anger back and threw her a megawatt smile. "Well, get used to it sweetheart. You're stuck with me forever."

"If she hasn't gotten used to it now, I see no hope for your future." Lillian said as she walked back into the room with a duffel bag on her arm.

Clint opened his mouth to speak and Natasha slapped her hand over it.

"Not another word, Barton or I will carve my initials into your face."

He wisely kept silent, knowing her well enough that she would follow through on her threat.

Steve chose the moment to walk in with Amelia and James. He ignored the partners (the scene a common occurrence) and addressed Lillian. "We're ready."

Lillian nodded at him. "I'm ready too. I've closed the office for the rest of today and tomorrow."

Clint clapped his hands. "Okay, let's move. Vitelli is still at the hotel so we're safe to move at the moment."

James walked over to Clint and handed him his bow. "Here, Mr. Clint. I kept it safe for you but you can have it back so you can keep mommy and me safe."

Clint glanced at Amelia, who was busy speaking to Natasha, and began to question the true age of the child. "You're a pretty smart kid. I bet you would do anything for your Mommy, huh?"

James bobbed his head up and down. "Yes I would. I don't like it when Daddy hurts her. She doesn't know that I see but I do. Mr. Clint, I really don't like my daddy. He scares me sometimes." The little boy whispered. "He's not very nice to me."

Clint's heart broke as he looked at the child. He knew what it was like to have a father that was cruel. The difference being that Clint's father was his biological one. If things had been different in James' life, he would've grown up with an amazing father.

"Can Mommy and I come live with the Avengers?" James asked abruptly. "I don't think Daddy will miss us."

"We'll see, little man." He ruffled his hair. "Come on, kid."

The group piled back into the car and Clint drove them to the safe house. James had fallen asleep with his head resting on Steve's shoulder and Steve gently carried him inside, placing him on one of the beds he saw in the corner of the warehouse. Amelia and Lillian placed their bags near the bed and decided to look around. Natasha went to her secure computer and began to do some research.

Clint was outside on the roof doing a perimeter check when his cell phone buzzed in his pocket.

"Barton."

"Hey, Legolas, we're about fifteen minutes out from your general location."

Clint shook his head. "Bruce and Thor with you?"

"You really think I would've been able to keep them away? We had to take a car since Brucie can't fly." Tony said. Clint heard an indignant snort in the background.

"It'll probably be faster anyway, knowing how you drive." Clint said.

"Just tell me where I'm going." Clint could hear the smirk in his voice. He rattled off the address and hung up. He hopped down onto the fire escape and gracefully made his way to ground level.

As he entered the warehouse, he saw Lillian inspecting his weapons.

"Pretty impressive collection," She said when he stalked over.

"Thanks but that pile barely scratches my entire collection." Clint said, pride inching into his voice.

"I gave most of mine up when Phil died. I still have a few pistols and my sniper but everything else I just gave to SHIELD." She said, running her hand over his sniper.

"Your brother was the greatest man I ever met. He was one of my best friends. He's saved my ass on more than a few occasions." Clint told her.

She gave a small smile and said nothing for a few minutes. "I've had three years to mourn and every day just feels like the last." She said before a mask slid easily onto her face. She allowed Clint to see just a moment of her greatest weakness before he was shut out.

He felt like it was Natasha all over again. "Damn spy women." He muttered to himself.

Another small smile was the only indication that she had heard him.

"Barton, we aren't going to be safe here for long with all the traffic coming and going." Lillian said.

"She's right." Steve said from his spot next to Amelia on the couch. "There are a lot of enemies in the area. We have to be careful."

As soon as he said it, there was a banging on the door. Three guns were immediately trained on the door and Steve moved Amelia so he was in a protective stance in front of her and James.

Natasha moved to the door and activated the camera they had focused on the outside. She lowered her weapon when she saw the inside of Tony Stark's nostril.

She swung open the door. "You're an idiot, Tony." He flinched, hand flying towards his eye reflexively.

"Hello, lady devil." He said to her as he walked inside. "Ah, just as I imagined it…" He looked around at the limited amount of furniture in the room. "…As cold and as empty as your heart."

Natasha ignored him and let Bruce and Thor into the room before relocking the door.

"Tony, unless you want a matching set of black eyes, I'd shut up." Bruce said. Tony glared playfully but said nothing else on the subject.

"Your lair is impressive." Thor boomed, his loud voice echoing around the large room.

Clint rubbed his ears, his hearing aids ringing. "Easy on the voice, big guy."

"I'm sorry." Thor said at a much more reasonable decibel.

Steve walked over to the group. "There are a few people I want all of you to meet." He looked over his shoulder and saw James was still asleep. He put his hand out to Amelia and pulled her forward. "This is Amelia. We've known each other for almost four years now. She is the mother of my son."

Thor and Bruce's mouths fell open and Natasha slapped a hand over Tony's before he could say anything.

"Yes, I have a son and no, I didn't know." Steve told them. "And he doesn't know yet, so please, this needs to be kept between us until his mother and I find the right time to tell him."

"I think it's safe to say we are all a little lost." Bruce said carefully.

Steve gave them the short version of the story.

"Wow, and here I was thinking for three years that you were a…"

"Tony, if you value your life, you will not finish that sentence." Steve told him.

"What is it with the imminent amount of violence towards me?" Tony asked.

"Just chalk it up to that big mouth of yours." Clint told him. "Look, we have a real issue here. Natasha and I have been taken off of our missions. We stumbled onto something huge here that the Council doesn't want us to know about." He briefed his team on what he and Natasha had learned.

Tony immediately whipped out his phone. At the end of the day, if the world was threatened, Tony Stark lost his sarcastic bravado and became a beacon of professionalism.

"It's level 10. Even I can't get in." Tony said after a few minutes. "I don't know what you guys stumbled on to but SHIELD is doing everything in their power to keep it under lock and key."

Clint slammed his hand against the wall in frustration.

"It's not SHIELD, it's the Council." Natasha said. "It's always the council. They are all bastards."

"Fury never would have sent us if it were SHIELD." Bruce agreed. "He must be suspicious too."

The entire time the team was talking, Lillian stood off to the side, near a one way mirror that showed the outside of the warehouse. Over the course of five minutes, she's noticed a black helicopter fly past three different times.

"We need to go," She said, eyes never leaving the sky.

"Who the hell is that?" Tony asked, just noticing her.

"Lillian Coulson," Clint said. He held out his hand up to stop questions. "Long story, we'll explain later." He turned to Lillian. "What do you see?"

"Black helicopter keeps circling. I can't say for sure but I think we've been compromised." As if to prove her point, the building shook from the force of an explosion.


	7. Loss

Many different things happened at once:

James woke up and immediately cried for his mother.

Amelia ran to the bed and picked him up, wondering what to do.

Tony opened his briefcase and stepped in it; his suit quickly molding to his body.

Bruce barely managed to control his temper. He didn't want to make the situation worse by hulking out.

Steve grabbed his shield and pulled Amelia and James towards him.

Thor growled and swung his hammer threateningly.

Lillian ran to her duffel bag, equipped herself with weapons and swung her rifle on her back.

Clint already had the door opened and watched the sky.

Natasha strapped some extra magazines to her belt and joined Clint at the door.

"Building about 400 yards from here is completely destroyed; looks like the work of a missile." Clint said. "We need to leave…now."

"Barton," Fury barked in his ear. "We have an extraction team headed towards you. Get the civilians out of there."

"It's a SHIELD helicopter, sir."

"It's rogue, Barton. Get out of there." Fury shouted.

Clint turned to Lillian. "Take the car and get Amelia and James to the extraction point. We will cover you and meet you there."

"I want to help." Lillian protested.

"And I appreciate that but right now we need to get those two out of here." Clint ordered. Tony threw her the keys. She hesitated for only a second before she dragged a struggling Amelia outside.

"No, Steve!" She cried.

"Amelia, go. I'll be along. Keep James safe." He told her gently. She nodded and allowed Lillian to drag her out of the warehouse. The team followed them outside. They couldn't see the helicopter but they could hear it off in the distance.

"Call it, Clint." Steve said, handing him the torch of leadership.

Clint nodded appreciatively, knowing that the Captain was trusting him with the safety of his family.

"Tony, get in the sky and cover Coulson so she can get out of here. We need to take out that copter. It's a SHIELD rogue. Thor, light it up. I'm sure it won't be the only one." Thor and Tony both took to the sky. Within a few minutes, the helicopter was crashing to the ground and Tony confirmed that Lillian was out of range and heading for the extraction point.

"Something's not right." Clint said, getting a terrible feeling. "That was too easy."

Another explosion went off on the opposite side of the original explosion. There was nothing in sight that could've caused it.

"Tony,"

"I'm on it." He responded.

"Clint, what the hell is going on?" Natasha hissed.

"There a troop of men headed your way." Tony said. "They are moving quickly. They kind of look like ninjas, dressed all in black."

Clint's heart dropped into his stomach. "We need to get out of here…now."

"Barton, there aren't that many…"

"No we need to leave." Clint was adamant. "They were luring us out into the open by the explosions."

"Who are they, Clint?" Natasha asked, prepared to fight.

"The situation just got a lot worse. Tony, get out of there. Meet us at the extraction point." Clint swallowed his panic. He knew his past would come back to haunt him eventually.

"Not until I know the rest of you are all safe." He flew back into view of Clint and landed by the group.

"If we don't leave now, it'll be too late." Clint all but shouted at his team.

"Get it together, Barton." Natasha growled at her partner. He knew she was right. He was letting the panic swallow him whole. His team was depending on him.

"It's the Confederation, a specialist assassin team. They are the **best.** Better than even us, Natasha. The U.N. utilizes them." Clint told them.

"Which means that we are on the U.N. hit list." Natasha suddenly realized the gravity of the situation.

"What the hell did we do?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Time's up," Steve said, getting into a fighting stance. "Here they come."

About six people came around the building. They were completely dressed in black from head to toe. Without any kind of preamble, they ran straight at the Avengers.

Natasha began to shoot into the group, stunned that not a single bullet hit its mark. They were too fast.

Bruce took no time in stripping off his shirt and becoming the Hulk. He kept two of the attackers busy as they tried to take him down. He took hit after hit all over his body but they just succeeded in pissing him off even more. The Hulk grabbed one as he was about to kick him in the chest and threw him like a sack of potatoes over a building. Even a master assassin couldn't survive something like that.

Natasha was able to get one of them in a thigh choke but before she could swing him down, the attackers grabbed her hip and spun her down to the ground. He landed a punch to her head and kicked her in the ribs. Ignoring the pain, she sprung her legs forward and kicked him in the chest, effectively knocking him away. It didn't deter him long and when Natasha jumped to her feet, the attacker put her in his own choke hold.

Feeling light headed, she stomped down on his foot and sent an elbow to his gut. He released just enough for her to twist out of his grasp and kick him on the side of his face.

"Barton," Natasha said as she dodged a kick to her solar plexus. "This isn't working!"

"What's your point, Tasha?" Clint swung his bow at one of the attacker's head. It was sidestepped and Clint found himself dragged forward by his bow before getting knocked to the ground by a hook to his jaw. He jumped up and before the attacker could blink, an arrow was soaring through his throat.

"Do not touch my fucking bow." Clint growled at the twitching man.

"Barton, Plan D!" Natasha yelled from her position on the attacker's shoulders, desperately trying to get him on the ground.

Clint's head whipped around in surprise. They have only ever had to utilize Plan D three times, and never with their team. It was too dangerous of a plan.

"Have you lost your fucking mind?" Clint sent an arrow at the man attacking Steve. It grazed the shoulder. 'Damn, they're fast', Clint thought to himself. "We'll all get caught in the blast zone!"

"We have no other option!" Clint knew she was right. There were only four left but they weren't anywhere near to defeating them.

"Captain, you're damn near invincible right?"

"Can I tell you how much I hate the sound of that?" Steve threw his shield at the attackers head and caught it back easily.

"Tony, when I tell you, you are going to grab Natasha and get the hell out of here as fast as you can." Clint said.

"I'm not leaving without everyone." Tony insisted.

"Goddammit, Tony. Just do it!" Clint shouted. Pushing his dial on his bow, he set an arrow he promised Phil and Natasha that he'd never use unless it was a dire emergency.

Tony flew over to Natasha and finally blasted her attacker to the ground. With a nod of consent from Natasha, he grabbed her around the waist and shot off.

"Captain, Hulk, it's about to get really uncomfortable. Cover me; I'm going dark." He told them, using the code for when he shut his hearing aids off. Steve shot a desperate look in his direction but effectively kept the remaining four attackers occupied.

After Clint turned his aids off, he took a deep breath and nocked the arrow. He released the breath and let the arrow fly. It imbedded itself into the nearby building and within two seconds emitted a 95 decibel sound that immediately knocked everybody but Clint to the ground. Clint knew that Steve and Bruce were only experiencing uncomfortable ringing in their ears. The attackers however, were writhing on the ground in pain, stunned and deafened by the sonic arrow. Using the opportunity, Clint took out a pistol and shot each man in the head.

The Hulk had turned back in to Bruce and he and Steve just lay on the ground breathing heavily and trying to get their bearings back. Clint turned his aids back on.

"Clint," Steve wheezed from the ground. "Despite its effectiveness, can we never use Plan D again?" Bruce nodded vehemently next to him.

Clint grinned at his teammates. "Well the next time we are being attacked by the best assassins in the world, I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

Steve and Bruce got shakily to their feet. "Come on guys," Clint said, clapping each of them on the back. "Let's get back to the team."

They started walking in the direction their team went when Clint stopped. "I'll catch up in a second. I need two grab something from the safe house." Before Bruce and Steve could stop him, Clint ran the 100 yards back to his safe house and went inside.

Five seconds sfter Clint entered the warehouse, Bruce and Steve were thrown to the ground again, but this time, it was from an explosion. The safe house went up in flames.

"CLINT," Steve screamed as they got to their feet and ran towards the building. Steve went to rush in but Bruce caught him around the waist.

"Steve, the roof," and as if on cue, the roof collapsed.

"Bruce we have to save him!" Steve broke free from Bruce but was unable to get near the flaming building. The heat was too overwhelming.

"Steve, he's gone."


	8. Gone

Bruce and Steve tried to search for his body, but it was impossible to get through the scorched building. All that remained of Natasha and Clint's safe house was a large pile of bricks. The pair refused to admit that that may be all that's left of their teammate as well.

Bruce knew that Steve was on a path to self-destruction and hatred, the guilt finding its way into every corner of his mind. Bruce knew it was happening, but couldn't say anything because the guilt was consuming his insides as well. He felt like his whole body was on fire.

Three years ago, before he joined this hodge-podge team that eventually became his only family, Bruce Banner was alone. He couldn't count on anyone to stay in his life so he shut himself down to outside pressures; he immersed himself in his work, never letting anyone get too close. And then he joined the Avengers, and they loved him. They weren't afraid of him and in the three years that he's been a part of the team, he has never felt uncomfortable or unwanted. Sure, they tested all of his buttons, and his best friend is constantly trying to see the Hulk, but he loved them and couldn't imagine a life without them.

And now Clint was gone. Bruce had never felt so empty in his entire life. He should've stopped him, he should've protected him. He couldn't help but feel that there was something, _anything_ , he could've done to save him.

Bruce didn't know how he was going to face the rest of his team, to tell them that he wasn't able to save Clint, even after Clint had saved all of them.

"We have to go back." Steve croaked, reading Bruce's thoughts. "We have to tell them that he's…" He couldn't manage to choke out the last part.

Bruce wanted so badly to believe that somehow Clint lived through the blast, but looking at the building, Bruce was surprised that even Steve and he had survived. Clint was inside when the missile hit and if he had managed to survived that, there was no way he could've survived the collapsing of the building. Sometimes the team forgot that he was only human.

Tears sprung to Bruce's eyes as he mutely nodded. They stood there for a few more minutes, neither man able to tear their eyes away from the burning pile of rubble.

Steve was the first to crack: he whipped his body around and stalked away from the site, his shoulders heaving in sorrow. Bruce silently followed him and the two teammates began to walk out of the cluster of warehouses. As they reached the end of the business park, a SHIELD jet landed on the street in front of them.

Both men took up a protective stance, knowing that the SHIELD helicopter that came around last time had gotten their friend killed. Bruce barely held on to the last bit of control he had.

The hatch opened and Natasha was the first person out. Bruce had to turn his head. How could he tell her that her partner of ten years just perished in a fight that he made her leave?

Natasha took one look at their faces and turned on her heel, disappearing inside the business park.

Tony came out next, his Iron Man suit already gone. Lillian, Amelia and James followed him out. Amelia ran to Steve and jumped in his arms.

"I'm so glad you're okay." She whispered in his ear. Steve buried his face in her hair, trying to keep control of his emotions.

"Clint…" Tony started and Bruce couldn't answer him out loud. He slightly shook his head and watched as Tony's face collapsed in anguish.

Lillian stood awkwardly to the side, not sure what to do. The team was mourning.

Bruce knew that someone needed to go after Natasha. Usually that job was left up to Clint (he could take a hit from her better than anyone; then again Bruce was sure Natasha held back slightly with him) but since Clint was…Bruce couldn't even think the word… the job was left to him.

He followed her path and knew he was close when he heard grunts of exertion. He turned the corner and watched as Natasha repeatedly punched the brick wall of a warehouse. He stood there patiently, waiting for her to tire herself out. He saw that her knuckles were bleeding but knew that she welcomed the pain.

Finally, she stopped and leaned her head against the wall. "You can come out now, Bruce."

Bruce walked up to her and tenderly looked at her hands. He was positive that one of them was broken. Her knuckles were devoid of skin and looked incredibly painful. He ripped two strips of fabric from the bottom of his pants and gingerly wrapped each piece around each hand. Natasha flinched slightly when the fabric made contact with her raw skin but otherwise held no objections.

"How?" She asked when he was finished.

"He ran back into the safe house. He said he needed to get something and a few seconds later, a missile struck the building. It collapsed before we could get inside." Bruce told her, head hanging in shame and guilt.

He felt Natasha hesitantly wrap her arms around his waist. He reciprocated the surprise hug and she rested her head on his chest. Bruce knew that it took a lot for Natasha to show any weakness or emotion. He knew Natasha wouldn't cry in front of him, but the hug was a symbol to Bruce that she was completely destroyed inside, more so than him. Clint was the reason for everything in her life. He was the one who was able to turn the Black Widow back into Natasha Romanov. She owed everything to him and now he was gone.

She pulled away from him, a mask slipping back onto her face. She would wait until she was back in her apartment before coming completely undone.

Bruce nodded at her and the two walked back towards the jet. Steve was on the phone, briefing Fury on what happened. He saw Natasha and Bruce heading back and hung up.

"Fury is going to send a team to find the… to find the body." Steve choked out. "He is ordering us back to Avenger's Tower and not to leave. If what Clint said was true, the U.N. is out for our heads."

"It's not the U.N.," Natasha hissed. "We've become a liability for the Council. They must be trying to dispatch of the team under the guise that we are international criminals."

"How the hell do they plan on doing that?" Bruce asked incredulously.

"Kira Volosky was just found dead in his hotel room by his wife." Natasha said. "And the Council pinned the murder on me. The Russians are demanding my head and because I am part of the team, the disbanding of the Avengers. What happened today is they are trying to get us all together and take us out. They sent Clint and me on a wild goose chase. They wanted to be able to connect me to Volosky and knew that if they sent Clint to trail Vitelli, we'd eventually cross paths. There are no sleeper cells, no inclusion of the Germans and Italians; they planted that information so that it would look like an international issue and all of the Avengers would be involved. All Vitelli and Volosky were involved with is human trafficking, like we originally knew. They fucking set us up and now Clint is dead." Natasha growled out.

"So know there is a giant bulls-eye on our foreheads." Steve said. "And what does SHIELD think?"

"Well obviously Director Fury knows that something is gravely wrong." Bruce said. "He sent us an extraction and is telling us to go home and stay put."

"Didn't either of you notice the lack of civilians or police? Three building just got destroyed and there was no response." Bruce smacked himself for missing that very obvious detail. Leave it to Natasha to make him feel like an ignorant boy.

"Fury is running interference." Bruce said. "And most likely without the Council's knowledge. And when the Council figures it out, especially when they find their best assassin team dead, they are going to come after us hard. The tower isn't safe."

"Fury said he has that handled." Steve inputted. "He's planting a story that we're at another safe house. Only he and Agent Hill are going to know where we are. Natasha is going to operate the jet to bring us home. Apparently it's got a cloaking device that will render us virtually invisible as well as keep any GPS trackers off of us." Steve had come a long way with technology since he's woken up. Now he knew the meaning of exactly what he said.

"Then let's go. SHIELD won't be able to keep control over the situation for long." Natasha said before walking onto the jet. She passed a tired looking Tony, who sat with his head in his hands. Next to him, Lillian was sitting and talking quietly to Amelia. James sat in his mother's arms, crying. She took her seat at the front and ran the preliminary pre-flight operations. She could feel her emotions quickly spiraling out of control but clamped down on them. She couldn't break down now, not here.

Steve and Bruce walked onto the jet and while Bruce pulled up the hatch, Steve walked over to James and pulled him into his lap. The little boy cried deeply onto his shoulder, burdened by the loss of someone he only just met, but who was so kind to him in that short amount of time.

"He promised he would protect me and mommy." He wailed. Steve held him tight against his chest.

"I won't let anything happen to you, James." Steve promised.

"Has anyone heard from Thor?" Bruce asked, suddenly realizing the absence of another teammate.

"He's meeting us back at the tower." Tony muttered into his hands. "After he took out the first copter, another one struck him from behind with bullets. He was taken by surprise and fell. He's fine."

Bruce sighed in relief. He didn't think he could handle another loss of a teammate. He took a seat as Natasha eased the jet back into the air. After she was at a considerable height, she cloaked the jet so they would be able to fly unseen to Avenger's tower.

Steve never let go of James. Steve knew firsthand what it felt like to lose someone close to you and how quickly it can happen. Steve wasn't sure if he could make it through losing James so soon after he came into his life. Amelia realized that Steve was hurting and she knew that James felt lost and confused. Amelia recognized the bond between father and son and made the decision that this was the right moment to tell James.

"Steve, I'm going to tell him." He nodded his assent and Amelia tapped James on the shoulder.

He lifted his head and looked at her with swollen, puffy eyes. His nose was running and he desperately sniffed to keep it from running into his mouth.

"James, baby, there is something that Mommy needs to tell you." He looked at her expectantly. "Your Daddy, he's not your real Daddy." James lip quivered.

"So I don't have a Daddy?"

"Oh no, baby. You have a Daddy." Amelia's heart broke.

"James," Steve took over. "I'm your real father." James looked between the two adults before he attached himself back to Steve's neck.

"I knew he wasn't my real, Daddy. Daddies are supposed to be nice." James mumbled into Steve's neck. "I'm happy you're my real Daddy."

Amelia couldn't stop the tears and Steve had to choke back his own. "Me too, James." He kissed the top of his head.

"Mr. Clint said I might be able to live with the Avengers. Can I?"

"James, I would love for you and your Mom to live with me in Avengers Tower." Steve said.

The little boy nodded and laid his head on Steve's shoulder. Amelia kissed Steve and rested her head on his other shoulder, her fingers intertwining with his.

Natasha landed the jet subtly on the roof of the tower and rolled it into a hangar that Tony had had built. Thor was waiting for them.

"I am deeply saddened by the loss of Clint." He said mournfully. "I feel as if I could've prevented it if had been able to take down the other helicopter. As it was I was blindsided and shot down from the sky."

Bruce laid a hand on his shoulder. "There was nothing any of us could've done."

Pepper came flying out onto the roof and launched herself into Tony's arms. "Fury just told me." Tony held her tight but chose to say nothing.

The team trouped their way down to the common living area. Natasha broke off and went to her apartment. No one expected to hear from her for a while.

Tony reluctantly let go of Pepper in order to collapse on the couch. Lillian walked up to her and held out her hand.

"Lillian Coulson, Phil's brother." She introduced herself.

To Pepper's credit, she only looked mildly surprised. "I'm not surprised he's kept you secret. I'm Pepper. Welcome to our home. I'm sure you'll be staying here for a while so I'll show you where you can stay."

Lillian placed a hand on her arm. "It's okay. You can show me later." She nodded towards Tony.

Pepper smiled gratefully at her and took a spot next to Tony on the couch. He once again pulled her into his embrace and closed his eyes.

Everybody else followed his example. They all preferred to be together, albeit in silence, to mourn the loss of a family member. Natasha, in the safety of her own bed, cried herself to sleep for the first time since she's been out of the Red Room.

The solemnity of the atmosphere in the tower was overwhelming.


	9. Moving On

It was the next day before Natasha joined her team. Everybody sat at the table in silence, coffee in each member's hands (tea in the case of Bruce), while Pepper made breakfast.

Pepper smiled warmly at her, sorrowful eyes reflecting back. There was no sympathy or pity in the look; Pepper knew Natasha would loathe that.

Natasha approached the table with a determined stride and slammed her fist down. Everybody jumped and coffee spilled out over the table when the mug in Steve's hand shattered.

"We need to get back to work." She began. "The Council wants us dead and we need to stop them."

"Natasha," Steve started. "It's okay to mou…"

She growled at him. "Clint is dead. And sitting here wallowing in pity is not going to bring him back. Nothing will. So get off your asses and help me come up with a plan to kill the sons of bitches."

"It's their fault." Tony placed his mug down. "They killed him. Natasha's right."

"But they are U.N. officials. How do we kill them without being further branded as international terrorists?" Bruce asked.

Natasha smirked sinisterly. "We frame them."

Even though it wasn't aimed at them, the men couldn't help but shudder at the look. The bastards had messed with the wrong team.

Lillian stood. "I want to help. And I think I know where to start." She looked apologetically towards Amelia. "I think that we are going to need to get Vitelli to help us."

"And how in the hell do you plan on convincing him of that?" Tony asked incredulously.

Lillian glanced in James' direction. The boy was staring intently at her, ever aware of the conversation. "The possibility of amnesty," she said simply.

"He won't go for just the possibility." Steve pointed out.

"No, but we don't have to tell him that." Lillian didn't go on, not wanting to discuss it in front of James. Pepper, always the observer, took the hint.  
She knelt down in front of James' chair. "Hey James, can I tell you a secret?"

He nodded excitedly at her.

"Tony loves video games. He even has a whole floor that's an arcade room." James' eyes lit up in delight. Tony merely gaped at her.

"That's my secret floor! You're not even supposed to know about that! The only person who knows is…" Tony hung his head. Clint had even helped him design it. Sometimes, when Tony couldn't sleep, he would escape to the room only to find Clint already there, usually playing a shooting game. Tony knew that Clint had worse nightmares than him and the two would stay there in companionable silence until morning; the only sounds being either a cry of triumph (normally in Clint's case) or a groan of defeat (almost always Tony).

Natasha yanked his head up by his hair. He yelped in pain. "Stop, Tony. I know you're miserable but we have to get this done. We can mourn after we avenge his death." Her voice was surprisingly soft (as soft as someone like Natasha could make it) for the amount of force that was behind the hair pulling.

"Christ, get off of me woman!" She let go but gave him a meaningful glare. He knew she was right. They needed to push away their sorrow in order to complete their mission. Hell, they didn't call them the Avengers for nothing!

Pepper quickly brought the conversation back to James. "C'mon, James, let's go check it out."

"Mr. Tony?" He glanced nervously at the adult.

Tony smiled warmly at him. "How about Uncle Tony, kid? I guess we're family now and that means that you can play in my arcade whenever you want."  
A giant smile materialized on James' face and he jumped in Tony's lap, giving the older man a huge hug. "Thank you, Uncle Tony." Tony patted the boy awkwardly on his back.

"No problem, kid." James jumped back down and grabbed Pepper's hand, eager to go play.

Once he was gone, they looked back at Lillian expectantly.

"Right now, SHIELD can put Vitelli away for the rest of his life. Even they wouldn't be able to clear him. But if he thinks he can get amnesty, he might be more willing to cooperate."

"And what would bringing him in do exactly?" Steve asked.

"Vitelli's been on SHIELD's radar for years. From what my brother told me, the only reason he hasn't managed to be assassinated yet is because he's an informant. The rumor is that he knows one of the Council members and reports to him personally. It's all speculation but I think it's a good stepping stone; a place to start."

Steve turned to Amelia. "Did he ever mention anything to you?"

She shook her head. "He was incredibly private about his work. Even me just asking how his day was resulted in this." She motioned towards her black eye, which really was more of a sickly yellow color. Steve shuddered at the nonchalance she expressed.

"Okay so that's step one." Natasha said. "Now we just need to get him here. When SHIELD told me about Volosky yesterday, it was before the deal could take place. I'm sure once Vitelli heard about Volosky's murder, he fled. He probably went home to pack his family up and when he saw you and James were gone, he probably panicked."

Amelia shook her head. "My husband doesn't panic, he rages. He's probably tearing up the city looking for us, knowing that he'll just get any charge he lands in the process expunged by his friend on the Council. I always wondered why he never was arrested for long."

"Well if he is raising hell, he should be easy to find." Thor said.

"I'll call my friend on the force and see if they've heard anything." Lillian pulled out her cell phone. Tony shook his head and handed her one of his secure phones.

"Use this; they're untraceable. They may not know you exist but they'll see a call being placed from this floor of the building."

"I'm seeing one fatal flaw in this plan." Bruce said hesitantly. "If Vitelli already thinks he has amnesty, why would he cooperate with us?"

"We tell him that his time is up." Natasha said. "I'm good at making people believe things. Put him in front of me and I'll have him singing. He'll tell me more than even he knows he's sharing."

"Well then it's settled." Tony said. "Who's going?"

"Amelia and I," Natasha said. Steve began to protest but Natasha put her hand up. "Hear me out, Steve. If he sees her, he's going to make a beeline directly to her. I won't let anything happen to her. I can take him down with my eyes closed while still keeping Amelia twenty feet away."

Amelia placed a comforting hand on his arm. "It'll be fine, Steve. I want to help. I know you trust Natasha and if you do, then I do."

"Fine, but I'm not going to like this." Steve said with a pout.

"We're going to have to sneak out of the building." Natasha said. "They don't know your face but they'll be looking out for mine."

"Just leave as employees." Tony suggested. "I'm sure I can get a wig up here and we'll make up your face."

"Make up my face?"

"Yeah," Tony grinned excitedly. "We can make you look completely different! Dark purple lipstick and red rosy cheeks…"

She waved her pinky finger dangerously. "Stark, I know how to kill a man 23 different ways with just this finger. If you come anywhere near me with makeup, you'll see number 17."

"Fine, Pepper can do it." Tony gulped. As much as he loved to tease her, he knew she would and could follow through on her threat.

"I won't need the wig. I'll just wear a scarf. Amelia, I have some business clothes in my closet. We're about the same size. Let's go get dressed and we can go." Amelia stood up and followed Natasha out of the room.

"I don't like this." Steve said again.

"Steve, Natasha won't let anything happen to her." Bruce reassured him.

"Yes, there is nothing for you to worry about. She will return your love safe and sound." Thor said.

"I bet this is how Pepper feels when we go on missions." Steve muttered.

It was another fifteen minutes before Amelia and Natasha came back upstairs; both dressed professionally in business suits. Natasha had a dark blue scarf in her hands and seamlessly wrapped it around her head, shielding her hair from view.

"I've had a car stashed in the employee parking lot for you." Tony threw Natasha some keys. "You'll know the one." He smiled mischievously.

"We won't be long." Natasha told them. "I have my comm in if you need to contact us but I'll let you know when we're on our way back."  
Steve kissed Amelia and wished her luck before the pair entered the elevator and made their way to ground level.

As they walked out of the building and towards the employee parking lot, Natasha scanned the area, searching for anything out of the ordinary. She saw a black SUV with tinted windows and rolled her eyes. The bad guys never have any originality.

In the lot, Natasha sought out the car that Tony lent them and her eyes rested on a canary yellow Ferrari. She lit up in excitement and quickened her pace. It was her favorite car in Tony's collection and he knew it. He'd only let her ever drive it once and she's done everything, short of begging, to get himto let her drive it again.

"That's the car he's letting us drive?" Amelia whispered conspiratorially. "It's not exactly inconspicuous."

"You obviously don't know Tony that well. Nothing he does is inconspicuous." She ran her hand over the shiny hood. "The man can't even go to the bathroom without letting the entire tower know."

She unlocked the door and got in, the leather seat molding to her body. She sighed in contentment. Natasha wasn't a lover of many things, but when it came to fast cars, she was addicted.

She took off the scarf (the tinted windows masking her identity) and eased out of the lot, hoping not to draw any attention to them. As soon as she was clear of the tower however, she shot forward. Amelia clutched the "oh shit" handle in terror as Natasha weaved the car in and out of the heavy Manhattan traffic before merging onto the interstate headed towards Long Island. Natasha had an honest grin on her face.

By the time they pulled up to Amelia's apartment complex, Amelia felt nauseous. She took deep, even breaths trying to still her stomach that was not only turning because of the terrifying ride there, but also because she was about to face her husband.

Natasha hesitantly put a steadying hand on her arm. Amelia may not know her that well, but she had a feeling that this woman of few words was trying to comfort her. She took a deep breath and nodded her head.

"His car is here." She said.

"Okay, I am going to walk up there and knock. We are trying to draw him out so I can drop him. You're going to stay down here and when he opens the door, call his name. When he steps out, I'll grab him."

Amelia nodded at the plan, her anxiety alleviating a bit when she realized she wouldn't even be that close to him.

As soon as they opened the doors, crashing sounds were heard from above. They weren't coming from Amelia's apartment, but rather from Lillian's. They shared a look before Natasha went up to door and loudly knocked. She moved out of sight as the crashing stopped. Instead of the door opening, a bullet soared through the door.

"Change of plans," Natasha called to Amelia as she un-holstered her gun. "Get back in the car." Amelia did as she was told, not needing to be asked twice.  
Natasha aimed the gun at the door before kicking it in underneath the door handle. She saw movement in the corner of her eye and sent a bullet straight into the man's shoulder.

He screamed out in pain as he fell to the floor. She approached him and he eyed her with terror, recognizing her fiery hair.

"Hello sweetheart. I think it's time I show you my collections." She winced at her own pun. Clint had rubbed off on her.

"You bitch!" He yelled. She rolled her eyes before putting pressure on the bullet wound with her foot. He screamed again before he succumbed to the pain and passed out.

Natasha shook her head. Some people are so dramatic. She's been shot so many times that she's lost count. She grabbed Vitelli under his arms and dragged him out of the trashed apartment and down the stairs, not caring as his body thumped painfully.

Amelia already had the trunk open and the two of them were able to get him in the trunk without much issue. As Natasha closed it, she looked around the complex. "Does anyone even live here? I never see anybody and we just dragged a body down the stairs." Amelia shrugged as they got back into the car and headed back to Manhattan.

The first thing Clint felt when he woke up was heat. He was slick with sweat and his survival instincts told him that he was quickly becoming dehydrated.

The second thing he noticed was that he was lying on the floor in a pitch-black room. At least, he assumed it was the floor. As he slightly turned his body, he met open air and he crashed to what he now knew really was the floor.

His shoulder screamed in pain. He did a quick reflexive check of his body, searching for injuries. A dislocated shoulder, a few bruised ribs and he was fairly certain he had a concussion.

He racked his brains for an explanation as to why he was in this room. He remembered a flash of light and heat, and then blackness. Suddenly, memories rushed forward and had him struggling for breath. The Confederation showed up. He knew many people that have been lost due to the group, and not because they killed them. The group had recruited them, even went so far as to try and recruit Clint. Clint saw the type of people they recruited, (his brother was one of them for God's sake) and although he fit into the crowd, Clint knew he was destined for more. The group shamelessly killed people, it didn't matter if they were the target or not. If someone got in the way of their mission, they would dispose of them. They would even kill their own if they were compromised. Clint still remembered the day he received the phone call that his brother had died on a mission. They weren't exactly on speaking terms but he was his brother and the mystery shrouding his death had always left Clint suspicious.

Sure, Clint killed people as a part of SHIELD, but he killed criminals and dangerous people. And he was conflicted about even that.

Clint recalled using the sonic arrow on the Confederation team, and then killing them. This he felt no remorse for. Then he remembered running back to the safe house to get something and suddenly Clint knew where he was. The safe house was Clint's long before it became Natasha and Clint's. Being the closest to the city, and not trusting leaving his most personal belongings in his apartment, he had built a secret room underneath the warehouse. He had just started climbing down the trap door when the building exploded, sending him flying down into the room, door closing him in.

Clint cautiously sat up and stood shakily to his feet, his arm dangling uselessly at his side. He made his way to a wall, knowing that if he followed it, he would reach the lamp he had installed in one of the corners. The room was not that big, about the size of a small kitchen, and he found it easily. He turned it on and looked slowly around the room. Photographs were strewn everywhere, Clint having landed on the table on which they were sitting.

He ignored them, knowing that the pictures would always be embedded in his brain, and headed towards a small cabinet hanging on the wall. Opening it, he breathed a sigh of relief. The reason he had turned back was still sitting there unharmed. His took out the urn with his good hand and rotated it, double-checking for a crack or chip. Finding none, he smiled softly and placed it on the table.

His next order of business was to find a way out. He thanked God that he had enough foresight to install insulation in the room, knowing that without that, he'd most likely be dead merely from the heat.

First thing's first, he needed to relocate his shoulder. If Natasha were there, she'd just pop it back into place. Since he was alone, he discerned that he'd have to be a bit more cautious. Using his other arm, he pulled his injured arm into a ninety degree angle, his arm resting on his stomach. He grit his teeth through the pain as he rotated his shoulder and arm outward slowly. He repeated the process until he felt the relief of his shoulder popping back into place. He rotated his shoulder slowly, testing it out. It wasn't perfect, but it would do for now.

He carefully climbed the ladder, wary of his newly repaired shoulder, and touched the handle of the trap door. He yanked his hand back, the metal white hot. Blisters immediately sprouted on his skin. He cursed under his breath in pain. Jumping back down, he located his bow and planned on using it to open the door, but the door wouldn't budge.

He slammed his head against the wall in frustration and instantly regretted it. The room spun and he saw black in the corners of his eyes. Yep, it was a concussion for sure.

He didn't think his team would be looking for him either. No one knew about the room and Steve and Bruce watched as the warehouse went up in flames. He was royally fucked unless he could get someone's attention. That's when Clint Barton started screaming for his life.


	10. Idiots

Before Natasha reached the tower, she called Tony and informed him to get a room ready. She also told him to have Steve meet them in the garage. She pulled discreetly (as discreetly as one can be in a yellow Ferrari) into Tony's private garage under the tower.

Steve was already there waiting for them and pulled Amelia into a bone crushing hug.

"You really worry too much." Amelia teased.

"I let you go once. I'll never let it happen again." He breathed into her hair.

Natasha walked around to the trunk and heard Vitelli thrashing around inside. She trained her gun on it. "Hey Cap, want to do the honors?"

He walked around the car and popped open the trunk. At once, Vitelli, jumped out, screaming. He momentarily paused when he saw Natasha with the gun and it was enough time for Steve to sucker punch him square in his nose. Vitelli dropped to the floor in a heap while Steve stood off to the side looking exceptionally proud of himself.

"Steve," Natasha pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

"Look, he's lucky I only hit his nose. The urge to break his damn jaw would've won if we didn't need him to talk." Steve told her.

She waved him off. "Well then fine, **you** get to carry him upstairs." Steve heaved him up and tossed him unceremoniously over his shoulder, his nose leaving a trail of blood behind them. The group walked into the private elevator and headed up. They bypassed each team member's floor, and even the common area, before coming to a stop on the highest level. The doors opened to reveal a very large meeting room. In the center of the room was a large semi-circular table that faced a seemingly blank wall. Steve and Natasha walked past the table and to a door at the far end of the room. Amelia followed behind in awe.

Behind the door was a series of interrogation rooms. Tony, Lillian and Thor stood outside of one of them and nodded to Steve as he entered the room. He dropped the body in one of the chairs and strapped him in using the metal chains attached to the chair. Vitelli's head lolled onto his shoulder. Steve joined the others outside.

"He'll be out for a while." Steve said proudly.

"Aren't you supposed to be the merciful one, Cap?" Tony said playfully.

"Trust me, I am." They all knew that if Steve had really used all his force, then they wouldn't have anyone to interrogate and a hell of a lot more paperwork.

"Okay well on that cheery note," Tony clapped his hands. "Let's head to the conference table and wait for him to wake up." They walked out and everyone took a seat. Tony tapped the table in front of him and it lit up. He pressed the screen and the wall in front of the table came to life. Amelia saw an enlarged picture of her husband (she supposed she should start considering him her ex-husband) and grimaced at his swollen face.

"Well it doesn't need to be that large." Tony said in disgust before he shrunk the picture and set it off in the corner.

Steve felt Amelia tense up and shot Lillian a pleading look. She stood and grabbed Amelia's hand, steering her out of the room. The two women left the team members alone and headed down to the common area with Pepper and James, deciding to get some lunch ready for everybody.

After a while, Bruce joined the group from his isolation in his lab and they sat talking about anything other than the man in the other room and the overwhelming absence of another.

* * *

Maria Hill stepped out of the helicopter as it landed on a street in Long Island outside of a business park. SHIELD agents were walking back in forth, clearing the debris of the other buildings. Only the agents that Fury trusted impeccably were on the destroyed site of the safe house, which they had erected a tent over.

Maria was there to make sure everything was done up to protocol. At least, that was the lie she told Nick Fury and herself. She knew inside that there was a small sliver of hope that her dear friend was alive. Maria and Clint had graduated in the same class at SHIELD. Their relationship was originally a rocky one; Maria thought Clint was arrogant whereas Clint thought that Maria had a very large stick shoved up her… well you get the picture. Despite the character flaws, the two had grown close in their years at SHIELD. Maria preferred being a field agent but left after an anonymous recommendation had her in the Second-in-Command position at SHIELD. Even though he never came out and said it, she knew it was him when he had only acted surprised that she had gotten the job. He wasn't that difficult to read if you knew how.

When Fury told her that Clint died, she didn't believe it. He'd survived so much in his short life and it just didn't seem plausible to her that he could have perished in a careless explosion. She supposed that he would have liked his death to be a little less dramatic; perhaps taking a bullet for a child, hoping on high for just a bit of requital as his last act in an attempt to clear out the endless red clouding his ledger.

Maria walked into the tent and through the site. She saw an agent pick up melted weapons and the hope in her chest shook unsteadily.

She heard an unusual noise and quickly paused, scanning the area. She resumed her walking when she heard the sound again, this time louder. It sounded like someone was screaming. Looking at the rubble around her feet, she dropped to her knees, desperately digging through the rubble as the sound grew closer. Her chest swelled when she saw a handle protruding through the debris. She took off her jacket and used it retch open the door. The screaming stopped and she looked down at Clint, her eyes watering.

"Fancy seeing you here," Maria said.

Clint raised his eyebrows at her. "Come to join the party?" Maria laughed breathlessly, closing her eyes.

"You are a complete idiot, Clint Barton."

* * *

It was another thirty minutes before they saw the telling signs that Vitelli was waking up. Natasha steeled herself and walked back through the door and entered the room. She closed the door behind her and sat across from the still unconscious Italian. His head was rolling around and he groaned as he opened his eyes. It took them a few seconds to adjust but as soon as he caught sight of the assassin, he violently flinched and a hiss escaped through his clenched teeth. His nose had managed to clot up but it was bent at an awkward angle and both of his eyes had swelled up. That, coupled with the gunshot wound in his shoulder, had the man gasping in pain.

Outside of the room, the rest of the team stood on the other side of the one-way mirror, watching the interaction.

"Nice punch, Steve." Tony applauded his friend.

"He's going to need medical attention soon." Bruce said without much conviction.

"Let him suffer." Thor growled. Bruce didn't argue.

"You're a psychotic bitch!" They heard Vitelli yell.

"Oh he is going to regret that." Tony smirked. They watched as Natasha sat there, silent, just staring at the man in front of her. His glare eventually turned into a look of uneasiness.

"Why the fuck am I here?" He asked.

Natasha cocked her head at him. "After everything you've done, how can you even ask that question?" She was the epitome of calm which unnerved even the men outside of the room.

"You can't prove anything!" He spat at her.

"I don't need to prove anything." She told him. "We already have all we need to lock you away forever."

He scoffed. "Good luck sweetheart. I know people you can only dream about meeting."

"You know, you're rather arrogant. What would you say if said people were the ones to sell you out in the first place?"

To the men, they noticed nothing on his face when she said that. To Natasha, she saw the arrogance in his eyes falter for a split second. It was just enough to tell her that she had implanted a seed of doubt in his mind.

"You don't know what you're taking about. I want my lawyer."

Natasha smiled maliciously. "You must not know who you're speaking to. I'm no cop; I have no protocols to follow." She stood up and started walking around the table towards him. Fear crept up on his face. "I do, however, have a lot of pull with some very important people: people who you can only dream about." She whispered the last part in his ear and he flinched back.

"Then again," She walked back around to her chair and rested her arm on the back of it. "It may very well be the same people."

"What do you want from me?"

"We need your cooperation." Natasha straightened her body.

"Fuck you." He spat. "You shot me. Why should I help you?"

"I spared your life. People want you dead Antonio Vitelli. That's why I was hired. We're on the same team. If you help me, I'll help you. The people that are after you will stop chasing you."

"Maybe I want to die." Vitelli said.

Natasha laughed maliciously and a shiver of fear ripped through his body. He knew that this woman was more than capable of killing him.

"If you wanted to die, your eyes wouldn't be screaming in fear." Natasha told him before she exited the room.

Once the door closed, she faced a round of applause.

"Bravo, Spider; it was an Oscar worthy performance." Tony told her.

"You continue to impress me, Lady Natasha." Thor said, his clapping hands causing the hallway to vibrate. Vitelli looked around in panic.

"Come on, let's let him simmer." Natasha said. "I'll have him singing like a bird in no time. That man is a child."

"Mr. Stark," JARVIS came over the system. "Mrs. Stark has told me to inform you, and I quote, to 'Get your ass down here right now'."

Steve bit his hand to stifle his laughter.

"Ah, such a joy my wife is." Tony sighed before walking towards the elevator. When the doors opened, they all froze.

Clint was sitting on one of the couches and smiled sheepishly at his team. His right arm was in a sling and his leg was propped up on the table in front of him. Pepper sat next to him, holding his hand and Lillian stood behind the couch, looking as if she's seen a ghost. Amelia and James were strangely nowhere to be found.

Natasha was the first to react. She walked right up to him and punched him in his jaw.

"OW, what the FUCK, Tasha?"

"That was for running back into the building with no backup." She pulled him into a hug. Clint could count on one hand how many times she's hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight. "You're such an idiot." She said softly.

"Everybody keeps saying that." When she pulled back, she saw pain etched on his face.

"Bruce," She waved him over despite Clint's glare.

He crouched in front of him and smiled. "Good to have you back, Clint."

"Good to be back. It's not much. I'll be fine." He assured Bruce.

Bruce raised his eyebrow. "Well then humor me. I did just watch you die."

Clint grimaced. "Sorry. A few bruised ribs, dislocated shoulder, concussion and now a sprained ankle."

Bruce furrowed his brow in confusion. "What do you mean by now?"

"What happened to my antique end table?" Tony shouted.

Pepper shot her husband a look and he quickly quieted down.

"That's my fault." Lillian said guiltily. "We weren't sure who was at the door so we sent Amelia and James to hide and when Barton came into the room, I sort of threw him into the end table."

"You **sort** of threw me?" Clint said sarcastically. "I went flying across the room!"

"You let a woman throw you across the room?" Tony joked as he made his way over to Clint. He clapped him on his back. "It's good to see you buddy. I hadn't gotten a chance to show you my new moves in Dance, Dance Revolution."

Clint laughed at his friend. "What moves? You look like you're seizing every time you step up."

Suddenly, Clint had the breath knocked out of him as a tiny blob made contact with his body.

"Jeez kid, for a three year old, you're kind of heavy." James didn't say anything, opting instead to just squeeze Clint. Clint for the most part was able to keep most of the pain off of his face. The last thing he wanted was for James to know that he was hurting him. "It's alright buddy, I'm not going anywhere."

James finally looked at him and Clint saw that he was crying. "Everybody said you died."

"It takes a lot more than that to kill me, buddy." Clint winked at him. "See for yourself. I give you permission to pinch me anywhere you'd like to make sure I'm really here." He spread his good arm.

James tentatively reached up and lightly pinched Clint's cheek. He dramatically flinched. "See, I told you."

James grinned and hugged him again. "Mr. Clint?"

"Yeah, buddy?"

"Uncle Tony said I can call him that because we are all family. Can I call you Uncle Clint?" he asked shyly.

Clint ruffled his hair. "Of course you can. Did Aunt Pepper show you the game room yet?"

"You knew that she knew?" Tony shook his head. "Does everyone forget that I own this tower?" As per usual, he was ignored.

James nodded vehemently. "I even beat Uncle Tony's score in the dancing game!" There was a cry of indignation.

Steve gently picked James up and placed him on his hip. "Let's let Uncle Bruce look at Uncle Clint for injuries."

Bruce glanced up at the title with a small smile. James grinned back.

He took Pepper's spot on the couch and helped Clint out of his sling. "You did a fairly good job setting it but you know it's not going to be painless to get it back. You're lucky it's not your bow hand." His hands flitted gently over Clint's ribs. "I'm not feeling a break, but you'll be sore for a while. As for the concussion, I know you won't listen to anything I say about rest so I'm not even going to try. How are your ears?"

"They feel fine. My aids didn't get damaged in the explosion." Clint told him.

"Speaking of which, how are you still alive?" Steve asked. "Bruce and I watched the place go up in flames right after you entered.

Clint rubbed the back of his head in mild embarrassment. "I went back for a few personal items."

"That's great but how did you get out **alive**?" Natasha goaded.

"I had a room below the warehouse, a basement I guess. I've had that safe house for twelve years and I've spent a lot of time in that room. I don't trust my personal belongings in any my apartments so I left them there. I went back to get them because I figured the place was compromised. When the explosion hit, I was headed down and it threw me into the room and trapped me there. Hill found me about an hour ago and I came straight here."

"What was so important that you risked your life to get?" Tony asked him.

He grabbed the urn that was on the floor by his feet. "My mother's ashes," He told his team. "This is the most important thing I own. I'd protect this over even my bow."

"You could've told us." Bruce said gently. "You know we would've protected it just as much."

"I know. In retrospect, I know I should've brought it here a long time ago. This is my home."

"Bout time you realized that, Clint." Tony rolled his eyes.

Clint sat up straight. "Okay, enough of the emotional shit…I mean stuff." He amended when he remembered James was in the room. "So the Council is after our heads. Why?"

Natasha smirked evilly. "What do you say we go find out?"

Clint looked at Natasha with caution. "Who are you torturing?"

"An Italian rat," She hissed.

Clint's head snapped to Amelia and James. The child was oblivious to the slight nod his mother gave the archer.

"Okay then," Clint stood. "Come on, Doc. I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Let's get this over with."

Bruce grabbed his arm at the elbow and also on the shoulder. With a sharp contrasting movement, Clint bit his tongue from crying out in pain as Bruce correctly set his shoulder.

"Look at that," Clint breathed through his clenched teeth. "Good as new."

"Get to bed." Natasha ordered. "Bruce may not be able to order you to rest but I will personally see that you get at least a few hours of sleep. Don't bullshit me; I can see the concussion is affecting you."

Clint glared at her but found it best not to argue. "Yes, mom." He headed towards the elevator. "Oh, don't have too much fun without me."

"We won't start until you're back." Steve assured. He nodded tersely and left the room, his mother's urn tucked safely under his good arm.

The rest of the team sat in silence for a few minutes. Tony covered James' ears.

"Fucking Clint Barton."


	11. Some Home Living

The women of the tower were in the kitchen making lunch while Clint rested. Amelia and Lillian were cutting vegetables for a salad while Pepper started on a pot of pasta. Natasha sat off to the side, watching them work. Although she's lived in the tower for three years, she had yet to pick up on any culinary skills whatsoever.

"It's nice to have other women in the tower." Pepper said. "Maybe one day we'll be able to outnumber the men."

"I've never had real girlfriends before." Amelia said softly. "I mean, I did when I was younger but Antonio never wanted me to get too close to anybody. He was nervous when I was around Lillian for the week we lived in that apartment."

"I could tell he didn't want me around." Lillian placed the veggies in a bowl in the sink.

Amelia nodded. "He was afraid that I would run. That's why he never left for very long."

"If you don't mind me asking," Pepper said. "From what I understand, he is not a good person and he's threatened your life and your son's life numerous times. When he found out you were pregnant with Steve's child, why didn't he let you go?"

"Well, he wouldn't have let me go," Amelia looked over at the living room and watched James wrestle with Thor. "He would've killed us both. But he needed to keep appearances for the people he worked for. No one knew that he couldn't have children. He didn't know for a while. He would always blame me and tell me that it was my body that was failing. He took me to a doctor and they said I was fine, it was him." She tore her eyes away from her son. "Anyway, if you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about him. I want to leave that part of my life far behind and start a new life with Steve. I want James to have a father who loves him."

"James will feel nothing but love living in this tower." Pepper told her. "You won't have to worry about his safety either. We are a family here."

Natasha nodded in affirmation. "It took me a while to get used to it. I didn't have a family growing up. When I defected from Russia, the only family I had was Clint and Phil. I absolutely never had a girlfriend until Pepper."

"Phil was always good at making people feel welcome." Lillian reminisced. "But he could be downright scary at times too. I remember one time I came back from a mission that didn't go quite as planned…"

"They rarely do…" Natasha said and Lillian found herself smiling at the repetition. They were more alike than they realized.

"…and Phil went absolutely berserk. I wasn't hurt; not even a scratch, but he kept telling me how irresponsible I was. He just had an obnoxious way of showing that he was worried. He also had a knack for knowing things; things that there would be no possible way of him knowing."

Natasha snorted. "That drove Clint insane. We would come back from missions and Phil would just **know** something went on."

"Between you and Clint?" Amelia asked.

Natasha shrugged. "Phil knew it was nothing serious. He just told us to be careful. Clint is my best friend and we took care of each other. It was as simple as that."

"Was?"

She nodded. "Normally it only happened after particularly hard missions, when we needed to get our frustrations out. It hasn't been like that in a good while. Like I said, he's my best friend but nothing more."

"Tony won't quit though." Pepper told the other women. "He keeps trying to catch them. He's like the obnoxious little brother."

Lillian laughed. "Phil would tell me about him. I still remember the day he came home and was so frustrated because Tony wouldn't cooperate and 'read the goddamn speech'"

Pepper grinned. "Ah yes, the day he decided to announce to the world he was Iron Man."

Tony wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed her cheek. "I hate to break up this womanly bonding moment, but the child is hungry."

"Which child, Tony?" Pepper glanced over at James who was swinging from Thor's bicep. "James looks pretty preoccupied."

"Okay fine, I'm hungry." He rolled his eyes. Pepper handed him a carrot and he looked at it, affronted. "I'm not that hungry!" He launched the carrot across the room and it hit Steve in the back of his head.

"Anthony Stark, we will not be teaching James that it is okay to throw food." Pepper placed her hand on her hip and glared at him. He balked at her before he ran away.

"The great Tony Stark…afraid of his wife." Lillian laughed.

"You have no idea." Natasha told her.

"You are one to talk," Pepper said playfully, pouring the pasta into a bowl. "The second you pull out your gun, it's like a ghost town. Actually, you don't even need to pull out your gun. Just one glare in either direction and they're running for the hills."

"Looks like you don't even need more women to outnumber them. Sounds like the two of you have it handled quite nicely." Lillian said.

"You are more than welcome to stay, Lillian." Pepper told her honestly. "We have plenty of room and we're always taking applications for people to join the crazy house."

"I don't know if I want to be dragged back into this life." Lillian mixed the salad.

"Well, at least think about it. Phil was a dear friend and we all miss him terribly. You don't have to grieve alone anymore. You're already family." Pepper said.

Lillian smiled in appreciation. "Thank you, it means a lot to hear that. I will consider it."

Pepper nodded. "Good." Just as she was about to call everybody in for lunch, Clint joined the men in the living room.

"I told you to sleep, Clint." Natasha said menacingly.

"And I did." He countered.

She looked at the clock over the stove. "It's been an hour."

He shrugged. "My brain won't shut off. I'll be fine." He grabbed James off of Thor and began to tickle him.

"See," Pepper said reassuringly to Amelia. "Everybody loves him already."

Amelia smiled as she took as squirming James from Clint. "Lunch is ready everybody."

Both Amelia and Lillian sat in wonder watching the affair that they called lunch. Neither woman had ever had a large family. As they sat and watched grown men swallowing their food without chewing and having conversations at the same time, they were, at the very least, taken off guard. It was loud and certifiably insane, but neither woman would have it any other way. They actually believed they would be able to get used to it.

When lunch was over, tradition took over as the Tony and Thor cleared the table, Clint washed the dishes and Steve cleaned the kitchen. Even James wanted to help so Clint allowed him to dry the dishes.

"They do it without asking?" Amelia asked in shock.

Pepper nodded. "We cook, they clean."

"Well, Pepper cooks." Natasha said. "They just know that they can't win the argument with me if they tried."

"I think I could get used to this." Amelia said with a laugh.

"It's not all fun and games." Pepper said seriously. "At least now I have someone to wait with when they go on missions."

Amelia watched somberly as Steve worked. She was not looking forward to the day she'd have to kiss him goodbye to leave for a mission. She knew it would be soon, and often.

Clint dried his hands. "Okay ladies, our job is done. Nat, let's go scare the pasta out of this guy."

Tony winced. "Oh no, Robin hood. You were obviously dead for too long. I know you can do better than that."

Clint shoved him out of the way. "I'm trying to watch my mouth around the kid, Stark."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Tony shook his head. Natasha stood and promptly ended the spitting contest.

"Come on, idiots." She led the team out of the room and up to their Assembly floor, as Tony had dubbed it.

Vitelli's head snapped up when Natasha walked through the door. He no longer had a malicious look on his face and merely looked resigned to his fate.

"I don't know what you want with me but…" He started.

"I told you what I wanted. Do you honestly think that your friend gives a shit about you? The second you become a liability, he'll feel nothing about disposing of you. You are nothing to him but a steep in his pay check. You failed. Volosky is dead and what do you think that means for you?"

Vitelli looked startled that she knew so much about his mission. She pressed on.

"We are on the same team. They're after me too. Difference is that I can fend them off." She leaned forward. "Protect myself. What can you do but squeal and make a mess? If I hadn't of gotten to you when I did, they would've found you and they would've killed you. Face it Antonio, you need me to stay alive."

"And how do I know you won't just kill me as soon as I tell you?"

She sat back. "You don't. Fact of the matter is, you can either tell me and face the possibility of freedom, or I can let you go and you get hunted down like an animal and tortured. Your call. And I don't have all day, so you'd better make it quickly."

He stared at her in silence and she saw the bravado behind his eyes slowly cracking away. Natasha Romanoff was nothing if not patient when in front of a target. So she sat there and waited as the last bit was stripped away and Vitelli sighed as if in physical pain. He'd lasted longer than most under her steady gaze, something Natasha took note of.

"I've never met her in person. Most of the time, I'm briefed by her secretary. I know she is high up in politics but I'm not sure in which country. Her name sounds Spanish to me but that could mean nothing. Last name is Pinero."

"What was your mission?" Natasha pushed on.

"It was a rendezvous with the Russians and Spanish cartel. Simple parameters; I was to set up the human trafficking deal and kill Volosky, make it look like an assassination attempt. Obviously someone beat me to it."

"If that was the end result regardless, why are they after your head?"

"I was supposed to close the deal first." Vitelli said testily. "I failed the mission. I went home to pack up and grab my wife and kid and they were gone. I knew it was that goddamn bitch so I tore up her place looking for them."

"And why didn't you just leave them? It would've saved you time and you wouldn't have been caught."

"She knows too goddamn much. Could never keep her fucking mouth shut." Natasha may not have known Amelia for long, but she wanted to punch the man in the mouth. "I told you everything I know now let me go."

Natasha stood and exited the room. Vitelli screamed in outrage behind her. "You fucking bitch!"

Tony was already on his phone clicking away. Clint nodded in admiration. She never ceased to amaze him with her interrogation skills and they had been partners for ten years.

"Miranda Pinero is the U.N. representative from Spain." Tony confirmed.

"What're the chances that she's on the Council?" Steve asked.

"Coincidences don't happen, Cap." Clint said, deep in thought. The name sounded familiar to him. Pinero…his mind clicked. Of course he recognized the name. "Miranda Pinero is in charge of the Confederation. She was the one who had recruited me."

His team looked at him in confusion.

"The same Confederation that killed you earlier?" Tony asked.

Clint rolled his eyes. "Yes, Tony; the same Confederation that **attempted** to kill me earlier. Chances are she received the order to kill us. She didn't strike me as the one in charge. She's more of a front man. Even if she isn't part of the Council, she has a pull. So we need to find her."

"Simple interrogation won't work." Natasha set to work on a plan. "And she knows our faces so seduction won't work either. This may be a spy mission… infiltration and intel gathering."

"Let me make a few calls. I may be able to get into the U.N.'s systems. There are some people who owe me favors over there." Tony said leaving the room. Clint left for the shooting range, muttering something about testing out his arm.

"What do you need us to do?" Steve gestured to himself and Thor.

"Well, the rat needs to be put in a cage." Natasha said. "Contact Fury and tell him who we have. You may need to knock him out for transport first."

Steve smiled at the suggestion. "I'll keep that in mind."


	12. The Plan is Set

"And I have a home address!" Tony shouted as he made his way into the Assembly room, waving a piece of paper in the air.

Clint nearly dropped the slingshot he was making. "How in the hell did you manage that?"

"Let's just say I've gotten rid of some files for someone and they owed me one." He slammed the paper down in front of him. "Pack your bow, Katniss. We're going downtown."

Clint rolled his eyes. "We live downtown, idiot."

"Yeah well, there is an unscheduled meeting tonight and we need to be there." He looked at the slingshot. "What're you doing?"

Clint held it up with a look of pride. "I made it for James."

"No fair!" Tony said childishly. "I was already making him a mini Ironman suit!"

The elevator doors opened. "You are not putting my son in an Ironman suit, Tony; miniature or otherwise." Steve said as he walked in with Thor. Clint quickly hid the slingshot behind his back.

"The Italian scum is safely locked up in a SHIELD prison." Thor told the group. "Actually, to be a bit more precise, he is locked up in the prison's medical bay."

Steve shrugged and had the decency to look sheepish. "He knocked his head a few times on some walls."

Clint shook his head and stood up, placing the slingshot in his back pocket. He didn't want Steve to shoot that down as well. "Okay, Tony has an address for Pinero. And there is a UN meeting tonight that we need to crash."

"Why don't you just tell him all of my good news then?" Tony glared. "I did the digging; I should be able to do the sharing!"

"I'm not even going to respond to that."

"Well, saying that is respon…Ooff!" Tony clutched his stomach in pain after Clint sent a sharp jab with his elbow.

Steve ignored their childish behavior. "Clint, you and Natasha go to Pinero's house and get as much information as you can. You can't be seen. If there is a meeting tonight then she will need to be there. I doubt there is going to be much information there but it's worth a shot. Tony, find a way to get us in that meeting, or at the very least, get us a live feed on that meeting."

"Even if we get the names, what are we doing with them?" Clint asked.

"These are corrupt government officials." Steve said. "We are not fighting anybody. This time, our mission is to collect the information and use it to our advantage. Right now, the Avengers are on an international wanted list. We want to expose the corruption and get our names cleared."

"And we need to set up a better system." Tony pointed out. "Everything works better with a system of checks and balances, so SHIELD needs the Council. But we can make it so that their identities are known, if only to Fury. There needs to be a semblance of accountability on their part."

Steve nodded. "Agreed. How long until the meeting begins?"

Tony looked at his watch. "Three hours."

Steve looked expectantly at Clint. "Better get going."

Clint pressed the comm link in his ear. "Romanoff, we're up. Meet me in the garage." He nodded to everyone in the room and stepped into the elevator. It stopped on the common's floor and Natasha strode in.

Clint saw James sitting on the couch watching television. He ran up to him and knelt down. "Hey buddy, I have a surprise for you." He reached into his pocket and took out the slingshot and some paper ammo. "I made this for you but you can't let your parents see. And you can only shoot Uncle Tony and Uncle Thor; mostly Uncle Tony."

"Thanks Uncle Clint!" James said excitedly, hugging him.

"Barton," Natasha barked from the elevator. Clint stood and ruffled his hair before dashing back to his partner.

"Remember, mostly Uncle Tony!" He shouted before the doors closed.

Natasha shook her head but otherwise ignored his antics. "What's the plan?

Clint quickly went over the plan as they walked into the garage. He walked over to his black Ford F150 pickup truck and Natasha was again reminded of his Iowan roots. He was a farm boy at heart.

They heaved themselves into the truck. "There is three hours until the meeting starts so chances are Pinero won't be home. If she is, we aren't to touch her." He told her.

"That's never fun." Natasha gripped the handle as her partner sped off into New York City traffic. The bulky truck made her nervous. The Ferrari moved better in this traffic.

Clint glanced at her and smirked. "How are you doing there, Tasha?"

"Keep your eyes on the road, Barton." She growled. He chuckled and sped up.

"Just relax. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can clear our names."

"Our names won't need to be clear if we are dead!" She slammed her eyes closed and didn't open them until she felt the car decelerate.

"We're here, coward." Clint told her playfully. She punched him in his good shoulder before jumping out of the truck. "Ow,' He rubbed his shoulder. "Now both of them are sore." He hopped out into a residential neighborhood in the suburbs.

"Which one is hers?" Natasha asked him.

"We have to walk a few blocks." Clint said. "I couldn't just park in front of her house." She glared at him and he put his hands up in surrender.

She rolled her eyes and started off towards the house. Clint easily caught up to her and they two fell into a synchronized stride.

He pointed at a house as the two crouched behind some bushes that outlined the street.

"That's the one." Clint said grateful for the even the cover of dusk.

"There is a car in the driveway." Natasha pointed out. "Either she's home or her family is. We need to be silent."

He nodded, his jokester façade fading away. "That tree leads up to a window. That needs to be our point of entry."

They quickly ran to the tree and Clint boosted Natasha up before he deftly pulled himself up. Natasha peered into the window and saw that it was an empty office. She looked at Clint in surprise: never had they been that lucky.

She double checked to see if anyone was in the room before she tried opening the window. It slid open without an issue. She scoffed in disgust. For an international government official, her lack of security was just plain stupid.

Natasha climbed in first. Her ears picked up on a conversation on the floor below. She couldn't discern what they were saying but she noticed that one of the voices was coming closer. She waved at Clint to shut the window and get out of view. She opened the closet door and slid her slim body behind a filing cabinet.

Moments later, she heard the office door open and woman entered, talking loudly. Natasha did not hear a second party so she assumed that she was on the telephone.

"I told you why I have to be there." The woman said. "My team failed. I have 6 bodies on my hand that need funeral services and their families contacted. "

Natasha was fairly certain that she was listening to Pinero.

"We killed one of their team, Clint Barton. We had him lined up to the building before we sent the missile. There is no way he survived." Natasha grinned. Rule number one of assassins: always make sure your target is dead.

"Vitelli is an idiot. He ran but I have agents on it. He won't get far. He was a loose end anyway. Why do you think we had Volosky killed before Vitelli could do it? It was easier to pin on the Avengers and it would give us an excuse to get rid of Vitelli for failing his mission." Natasha stored the information away.

"No, I have to go. Yes, I'll see you tonight." Natasha heard the door close again. She waited a few minutes before she left her hiding space. Clint was already crawling back through the window.

"You get anything good?" He asked.

Natasha nodded. "She's not very good about making sure she's in a secure location before disclosing confidential information."

"Yes, well I'm sure she didn't expect an assassin to be hiding in her closet."

Natasha looked at him with a hard expression. "She should."

He broke the eye contact and headed to the desk. "She was rummaging around with the papers on here. Let's check everything out, and get the hell out of here."

Natasha dropped into the desk chair and tapped away at the computer. "At least she is intelligent enough to secure her files. I can't get in."

"There's nothing important here either." Clint said. "She must have taken everything with her to the meeting."

Natasha stood and the two wiped away any evidence that they had been there. They exited through the window and climbed back down the tree. The car that was in the driveway was gone and the pair sprinted back to Clint's truck. They had two hours until the meeting started and they needed to get back to the tower to tell the rest of the team the new information.

Natasha once again closed her eyes on the drive back. Although traffic had cleared out, Clint's driving always made her nervous.

He sped into the garage and the two took the elevator back up to the common floor. When the doors opened, they heard James squeal with laughter. Lillian, Pepper and Amelia sat on the couch and laughed as they watched James chase Tony around the room, shooting paper with his new slingshot.

Steve stood off to the side with his arms crossed and a smile on his face.

Clint sighed. "I told him not to get caught."

"I told him that he wasn't to shoot his mother or me, or Bruce." Steve chuckled. "He's just been chasing Tony around for the past 20 minutes."

Tony jumped clear over the couch and hid behind Steve. "Clint Barton, I hate you." He whispered ominously.

Clint flicked him in the neck. "Come on. We have information." A paper bullet hit him in the head. He turned towards James.

"Sorry Uncle Clint. I was trying to get Uncle Tony." He said apologetically.

"It's okay buddy. We'll work on your aim." He nodded to the rest of the team and they all stepped into the elevator. Lillian quickly ran in before the doors closed.

"I'm helping." She told them. Clint knew that it took a lot for her to offer. The last time she was on a mission was before her brother died. He nodded at her.

Once they all took a seat at the table, Natasha spoke up.

"Pinero was at the house. She was on the phone. From what I've gathered, she is not commonly at the Council meetings. Apparently, they have summoned her to answer for her failure in killing us." Natasha continued to tell them everything else she had overheard.

"She doesn't keep much information at home." Clint told them. "But if the entire council is at this meeting tonight, then we will have names and can pick them off one by one. Everybody has secrets. We need to publicly expose these crooks."

"This mission will be different from all the rest." Natasha told the team. "The first part of this is surveillance. Tony, did you get us into that meeting?"

He tapped the screen on the table. The screen on the wall came to life. On it was the picture of an empty meeting room. He smiled in triumph.

Natasha nodded, impressed. "Nice job. D'ville…Coulson, I want you and Clint outside of the U.N. You're our sharpest shooters and you need to be close in case things go wrong. The two of you have a greater advantage than any of us. Clint, they believe that you are dead. Coulson, you are not a SHIELD agent. They can't even touch you. When the meeting is adjourned, we'll tell you the leader and you both will follow him home. You will intimidate him with facts and persuade him to leave his position. You are permitted to use a reasonable amount of force but you are not to seriously injure or kill him. Understood?"

Clint wanted to roll his eyes at the bossy tone but understood the harsh reality of the situation. "Understood."

She turned to the rest of the team. "We will watch the meeting for any information. After it is over, we will split up and take on the other members. Again, we are persuading them to resign. Tony, as soon as you hear a name you dig up as much dirt as you can. We need everything."

She checked her watch. "We have an hour and a half. Make sure all of your equipment is working."

Tony handed Clint a handheld device. "Once the feed starts I'll upload it to this device that way you can see what we see."

"Why don't we head downstairs and relax for a bit." Steve suggested. "We have some time."

"Lillian and I are going to head out." Clint told his team. "We need to scope out the best place to set up."

Steve clapped him on the back. "Good luck."


	13. Changing Times

Lillian and Clint rode the elevator to the garage and got into Clint's truck. They drove a few blocks to the U.N. building and parked a few blocks away. Clint threw his duffle bag over his shoulder and grabbed Lillian's hand.

"What are you doing?" She asked, resisting the urge to break his grip.

"Play along, Coulson. We are just a couple walking around Manhattan." He put on a lazy smile.

"The duffle bag is a bit conspicuous." Lillian pointed out. "I think that you just wanted an excuse to hold my hand."

He shrugged. "Can't blame a guy for trying." He led her into a large building but quickly dropped her hand. It was a foyer for a posh looking hotel. They approached the reception desk where a pretty blond was sitting.

"Hello," Clint said with a flirtatious voice. Lillian stared at him. "My _sister_ and I need a room for the night. I promised I'd take her out to the Big Apple for her birthday. The penthouse if you could; one with the best view of New York... well the second best view."

The blond swooned. "That is so loving of you. The penthouse is reserved for the night but the floor below them is still available."

"Perfect." He winked. The girl blushed as she tapped away at the computer. Lillian rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe that this girl was falling for his fake charm.

Clint winked at the girl once more once she handed them the keys. She giggled obnoxiously.

"I cannot believe she fell for that." Lillian said once they were out of earshot.

"Please, how could she not?" Clint scoffed. "I'm a catch."

Lillian was about to retort before she remembered she was no longer in middle school. "Let's just get to the room and set up." She walked past him to get to the elevator. He grinned as he followed her.

They rode up to the twentieth floor and the doors opened up into the suite. "Nice," Clint commented. "This must have cost Tony a fortune."

"Just out of curiosity, does Tony know you swiped his credit card?" Lillian asked.

"I did not swipe it, for your information. Pepper gave it to me. And no, Tony does not know that I have it." Clint dropped the bag. "Three-sixty view of New York: too bad we're only spending a few hours here."

Lillian walked to the west side view. "There is the U.N. I bet this is the hotel they use when they are all in town."

"I'm surprised that this wasn't reserved then too." Clint said, joining her at the window.

"It's an unscheduled meeting." Lillian said. "No one is supposed to know they're here."

"We need to see who comes in or out. You're right, there isn't supposed to be anyone here."

"They are all probably in the building already. The meeting starts in forty-five minutes." Lillian said. "We just have to wait until Tony uploads the feed and then we'll track the group."

Clint fell back on the couch. "Fine, then I'm going to take advantage of the awesome digs."

Lillian sat down next to him. "Where did you learn to shoot?" She asked, attempting small talk.

He raised his eyebrows at her but answered. "I traveled with the carnival with my brother. A man named Trickshot taught me how to shoot. I became the best act they had: The Amazing Hawkeye."

"How did SHIELD find you?"

"My brother and I got in with the wrong crowd. SHIELD offered me a second chance." Clint told her.

"And your brother?"

Clint's eyes grew stormy. "He was too far gone."

Lillian backed off on the subject.

"Anyway, what about you?" Clint asked. "What made you decide SHIELD was your calling?"

"Well, Phil basically raised me after our parents passed. When he joined up, I thought it was the coolest job in the world because my big brother worked there. As I got a little older, it became more appealing. He was adamantly against it." Lillian smiled. "I remember badgering him for weeks to let me join. There were a few conditions but he finally let me join."

"Like changing your name?"

"Among other things." She nodded. "He was pretty high up in SHIELD. He didn't want the enemies to target me as well. I'm also pretty sure that he arranged my missions the first year because they were so simple."

"That's Phil for you." Clint laughed. "He was a great man."

She smiled sadly. "Yes, he was. That's why I left SHIELD in the first place. It just didn't feel right being there without him. His job was a huge part of his life."

"Do you think you'd ever come back to SHIELD?" Clint asked her.

"No, probably not." Lillian said. "In the three years I've been retired, I realized that he was the one keeping me there in the first place. Don't get me wrong, I loved my job, but it wasn't the same."

"But you'd rather work as an office manager?" Clint asked, surprised. "After being an agent?"

"Sometimes having a boring job after what we do is the best way. Sure it's boring after a while, but there is no one shooting at me on a daily basis. At least, there wasn't." She paused. "Pepper offered for me to move into Avenger's Tower."

"And?"

"I don't know. I haven't made up my mind yet. Everybody has been so kind to me. I could see myself living there."

"So what's holding you back?" Clint asked sincerely.

"I'm not sure if I'm ready to be thrown back into that world." She answered honestly. "Watching people I care about leave for missions and never knowing if they are going to be coming back…"

"Well if we all mean that much to you, you'll feel it regardless of where you are." Clint pointed out. "It's your choice whether you want to be alone or you want to be among friends."

"Do you consider me your friend, Clint?"

"Yeah, I do. I mean, I'm a little perturbed that Phil never told me he had a sister but he was family and that makes you family too." Clint told her.

He watched as her eyes darkened and felt the atmosphere thicken. He cleared his throat. He needed safe topics or this would get out of hand. "So, where did you learn to shoot?" He asked and then regretted it instantly. All he could picture was her sweating, laying out on a rooftop, and holding a sniper rifle. He bit the inside of his cheek.

"My father taught me the basics before he died. Everything else Phil taught me. Sniping just happened to be what I excelled at." She said, oblivious to Clint's internal struggle.

"Hawkeye," His comm buzzed and he praised Tony for giving him a much need distraction.

"Go for Hawkeye,"

"I'm uploading the link to your device now. They are starting to file into the room." Tony told him. Clint took out the tablet and turned it on. A pop up message came through and it connected to the live feed.

"Thanks, I have it uploaded. Keep us updated." Clint told him before he buzzed out.

He was grossly aware of how close Lillian was sitting to him. He quickly stood up and went to the television set, attempting to get control of his breathing. This was a mission and he needed to get his shit together.

"Are you okay, Clint?" She asked worriedly.

"I'm fine." He took a flash drive that Tony had given him with the tablet and plugged it into the television. Using the tablet, he flicked the image onto the television screen.

Lillian had an impressed look on her face.

"Working with a technological genius pays off sometimes." Clint said as he joined her back on the couch (with more space in between them of course).

Just like Tony said, people had started to file in. There were seven people in attendance. Clint recognized Pinero as she sat off to the side.

They watched the screen for another ten minutes before a man stood up in front of the group, calling for attention.

"I bring to order this meeting of the International Security Council on this 28th of April in the year 2015. Secretary Nash, if you would read the minutes from our last meeting." A woman stood up and went through a brief summary of the previous meeting. Nothing of interest stood out to Clint until the very last point.

"We also discussed the use of the Confederation as a means to get rid of the group known as the Avengers." The woman continued.

The man stood back up. "Thank you, Secretary Nash. As our first order of business, I would like to call Councilwoman Pinero to the floor." Pinero stood and walked to the center.

"She looks like she's about to piss herself." Clint commented. Lillian shushed him.

"Councilwoman Pinero, at our last meeting, you were tasked with disposing of the Avengers, a Council liability, with your team known as the Confederation. What do you have to report to the Council?"

"Councilman, my team has failed in the attempt to kill the Avengers. They were able to kill only one, Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye. My team has perished in the attempt." Pinero told him.

"So Councilwoman, you are telling me that not only have you have failed in your task by only managing to kill one of the members of the team, but that we have to have services for six members of our own elite team?"

"Yes sir." Her voice shook. Clint leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

The man shuffled the papers in front of him. "I trust you know what this means, Councilwoman."

"Sir?"

He looked her dead in the eye. "You have become a liability to this Council."

"No, sir, please. I can make up for my failure." She said frantically as guards approached her.

"Councilwoman, you knew the risks when you joined." The man said, now bored of the conversation. He nodded to the guards and they took Pinero away, screaming the entire time.

"What did they do to her?" Lillian asked with wide eyes.

"Councilman Brady," Another man stood. "Be sure that the story gets out to the press. It needs to be an assassination in her home."

"Jesus Christ." Clint said, shocked. "They killed her."

He pressed his comm link. "Tony…"

"Don't worry." He came back angrily. "It will be leaked to the press. These bastards won't get away with this."

"I can't believe they killed that woman just because she failed to kill your team." Lillian said. "If it weren't for that, I'd feel immensely sorry for that woman. As it is, I'm just angry that these people can get away with this."

"They won't for long." Clint assured her. Sure, she was behind the attempted killing of him and his team, but no one deserved what she had received.

They listened back into the meeting.

"The Avengers are currently 'Missing in Action'. We have found no sign of them since the incident in Long Island. We have, however, seen multiple cars leaving their Tower base. We do not have confirmation that that is where they are currently located. Director Nick Fury has informed us that he does not know of their location. At this point in time, we are not to trust Director Fury's assessment of the situation."

"Sir, are we sending a team to the Tower?" A woman asked him.

"At this time, no we are not. Until we get conclusive evidence that they are there, we will not go near the tower. We need to be smart about the situation before we start tearing up the earth looking for them. They are dangerous, both physically and intellectually. Every member of this team is a high threat. We know that Clint Barton has been disposed of. Let's brainstorm plans for the rest of the team."

"They make it sound like I'm some trash they just threw away." Clint said, affronted. "Tony, who are we looking at?"

"That is Councilman Growski. I'm forwarding his information to your phone."

Clint took out his specially issued Stark phone (he rolled his eyes at the name every time he pulled it out) and saw the link Tony sent him.

"He's not necessarily clean but they could never pin anything on him." Clint told Lillian. "He's obviously the leader of this group. With everything he's said today alone, we could get him."

"The video has to privately leak." Lillian said. "If it doesn't, they could pin us with treason."

"Well let's make sure that does not happen." Clint said.

They turned their attention back towards the television. Another man stood up and addressed Growski.

"Councilman, I would like to put in for my resignation from the International Security Council."

"Councilman Meyers, I will respect your proposal. Please inform the Council on what grounds this is due?"

"Sir, I believe that I am no longer suited for the needs of the Council." Meyers answered.

"You know the policies, Councilman. The Council will respect your decision. You are hereby stricken from membership on the International Security Council. You are not to speak to anyone about our processes or decisions. If you would please, leave the chamber." Meyers stood and quickly left the room.

Growsky addressed the four remaining council members. "This council runs on a system of the most indiscretion. We cannot allow Councilman Meyers to resign. Councilman Brady, if you would please take care of the security breach by the end of this day."

Appalled, Clint reached for his comm but Steve beat him to it. "The Widow's on it, Hawkeye. She's going to trail him home and make sure he's safe. If he's so against what they have done, we may have found our new leader."

"Are you sure we can't kill anybody?" Clint asked.

"We won't stoop down to their level, Hawkeye." Steve said. "As much as I'm sure we'd all like to."

"It looks like they're wrapping up." Tony said.

"Okay, everybody has their assignments. Clint, Lillian, I believe you know who you have."

Clint watched as Growsky left the chambers. "Yeah, we got it."

* * *

Natasha had somehow made it into Meyer's car before he had even left the building. She sat in the back seat and watched as he quickly walked to his car, looking over his shoulder the entire time. He shakily unlocked the door and got in. Immediately, he locked them and breathed a sigh of relief.

Natasha made her move. She clamped a hand over his mouth to stifle his scream.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Natasha told him. "I am here to protect you. You should've known that they wouldn't have just let you resign." She felt him shaking under her grip. "If I let go, will you scream?"

He shook his head and Natasha reluctantly let him go. He took deep, wracking breaths and it sounded like he was trying to reel in a panic attack.

"Mr. Meyers, I need you to calm down and start your car." Natasha coached. "We will not be going to your house. We are going to lose the person who will be following you and I am going to take you back to Avenger's Tower, where you will be safe."

He nodded, took a deep steadying breath and started his car. Sure enough, as they left the garage, Natasha noticed a nondescript car following them.

"Mr. Meyers, I want you to make a left and valet park at this restaurant. You will go inside and get a table for one. In five minutes I want you to meet me in the bathroom and we will walk out of the back door where I will have a car waiting for us. Do you understand?"

He took another deep breath and spoke for the first time. "I understand. Ms. Romanoff, why are you helping me?"

"You're not like the others." Natasha said simply. "I can tell. You resigned because you couldn't condone what they were doing anymore. I saw it in your face. And so did they."

"But I didn't stop them from trying to kill you all. I didn't stop them from killing Mr. Barton." His hands were shaking.

"They would've killed you too. But you stood up to them today, which is saying something about your moral character." Natasha told him as they pulled up to the restaurant. She lay down on the floor in the backseat. "Remember the plan Mr. Meyers." He nodded and reached for the door handle as a valet approached the car. "Oh and Mr. Meyers, Clint Barton is very much alive." His shoulders sagged and he gave her a small smile before he got out of the car.

Natasha was never seen as the valet drove and parked the car nearby. She put ordinary clothes on over top of her catsuit and climbed out of the car, wrapping a scarf around her head in the process to shield her hair. She walked back to the restaurant and entered.

"How many for dinner, ma'am?" The host asked her.

"I'm afraid I'm dining by myself tonight." She flourished. The man led her to a small table near the restrooms. She nodded in appreciation and soon found herself alone. She scanned the restaurant and saw that Meyers was not sitting anywhere. Before a waiter could stop by and waste her time, she stepped towards the bathroom and into the men's room without notice.

Meyers was pacing nervously but was immediately relieved when he saw her. "Okay, follow my lead."

They left the bathroom and she grabbed the nearest waiter. "Please, I need your help."

The waiter immediately fell for her hypnotizing green eyes. "Of course. What's wrong?"

"My ex-husband just walked through the door." She pointed at the man that walked in. She recognized him from the Council meeting. "We've been divorced for a year and is still insanely jealous when he sees me with another man. Please, do you have a back door we can escape from?" The waiter looked back and forth from the man and Meyers before he nodded his head. "Follow me."

He led them through the kitchen and to the back door. She kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you so much." She went through the door and sure enough, there was a black town-car waiting for them. They both quickly got in and Natasha grinned at the driver. "Thank you, Happy." Happy winked at her and sped off towards Stark tower.

* * *

Steve, Tony, Thor and Bruce had no issue convincing the other Council members to resign. In fact, the members were grateful that they weren't going to be imprisoned for treason.

The four met Natasha back at Stark Towers and introduced themselves to Meyers.

"Has anyone heard back from Clint yet?" Steve asked.

Natasha shook her head. "Radio silence. He doesn't want to be interrupted."

"Clint knows the stakes." Steve said, squashing any doubts the others had. "He won't jeopardize the mission for revenge. We know him well enough to believe that."

Natasha nodded. "He'll come through soon. Growsky is just probably a harder egg to crack."

"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly is it that you all are doing?" Meyers asked.

Steve looked diplomatically at the councilmember. "Councilman Meyers, I'm sure you would agree with us when we say that the Council has extended far beyond their range of power. They personally branded us as the enemy and that will not be something we will stand for. We would like to set up a new Council, one where the identities of the members will be known to the Director of SHIELD; one that will take accountability for their actions. With what we saw today, I believe we are all in agreement that we would like to see you head this new Council. We have convinced all of the members, sans Growsky, to leave their positions in return for no legal repercussions."

"You are much better men…and woman," He acknowledged Natasha. "…than Bert Growsky. I want to formally apologize to every one of you for the atrocities that you've had to face by decree of the Council. Although I am not the one to give the final blow, I did not speak up to protest and for that I am sorry. I am also humbly flattered that you'd choose me for the position."

Tony nodded at him. "Natasha here is an excellent judge of character. You should thank her. I was ready to throw each of you in the hole after what happened to Pinero."

Meyers shook his head sadly. "She was a dear friend. That is what pushed me completely over the line. I was through."

"Now we just have to wait for Clint to call in and we can get the ball rolling." Bruce said as headed towards the elevator. "I'm going to get some tea. Anyone want anything?"

* * *

Clint and Lillian watched as Bert Growsky was driven two-hundred yards to the hotel that they were currently sitting in.

"That's convenient." Lillian said.

"He couldn't walk across the damn street?" Clint took the safety off on his gun. Lillian eyed him.

"Clint…."

"Don't worry. I'm not going to shoot him. Just scare the shit out of him. He is a piece of shit that deserves to die but I, unfortunately, won't be the one to get him. Now if someone just happened to tell Pinero's family what actually happened, well, that's a whole other story." He held the gun at his side.

Lillian couldn't help but agree with him. "How do we know where in the building he's staying?"

"He's staying in the penthouse."

Lillian stared at him. "And how in the hell do you know that?"

"The penthouse is taken." Clint said as way of an explanation. Lillian's hand twitched. "He's an arrogant man. Men like him like to boast about their wealth. Take Tony for instance. He buys the best things he can get. Growsky is the same way. He's in the penthouse."

"And how long have you had this suspicion?"

"Since the girl at the front desk said it was reserved." He began to walk towards the elevator.

Lillian's jaw dropped. "We are going to have to work on your communication skills."

He grinned wryly. "Let's go. Maybe we can even beat him up there."

They dashed for the stairs and listened at the penthouse door.

"He isn't up here yet." Clint reached for his lock-breaking kit. While he was turned away, Lillian made quick work of the lock and the door swung open. He looked at her with a captivated expression. "Marry me."

"Shut up." She rolled her eyes and entered the suite. "He'll most likely be up with a bodyguard to check the floor. So we need to get out of sight."

He winked at her. "Want to live up to your codename?"

"Why do I hate the sound of that?" The elevator dinged and the pair dashed out onto the balcony. Clint helped her up onto the ledge and then followed her.

"It's windy as shit up here, Barton." Lillian hissed as her hair whipped around her face.

Clint grinned but said nothing. He knew she was more than capable of keeping her balance. He looked towards the door and saw the curtains open but no one came out.

With the wind, Clint couldn't hear anything in the apartment. He scooted closer to the door and cautiously peeked in. He saw another man boarding the elevator and Growsky headed for the mini bar.

He waited a few more minutes and then cocked his head at Lillian. The two leapt deftly back onto the balcony. They silently opened the door. He had his back to them, sipping scotch and watching the news.

Lillian watched as the glass fell to the ground and shattered as Clint came up behind the man and pulled his arms behind his back. She shook her head of dirty thoughts as she watched his muscles ripple beneath his shirt. They had work to do. She pulled handcuffs out of her pocket and cuffed him.

He cried out in indignation and surprise. Clint grabbed the hair at the nape of his neck and pulled his head back.

Growsky's eyes widened when he saw Clint's face. "How…"

"Shut the fuck up and listen." Clint growled. He shoved him onto the couch. "No, I'm not a ghost. Make sure the people you are trying to kill are actually dead." The man had genuine fear in his eyes. Clint savored it.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Growsky said, trying to play down his fear: Clint saw right through it.

"Stop playing dumb." Lillian scoffed. "Your time is up."

"And who the hell are you?"

She smiled maliciously. "You really don't need to concern yourself with my name. Just know that I am the only person keeping this man from killing you. So watch your tongue."

"What do you want from me?" He steeled his gaze.

"To leave. Get the hell out of this country and resign your position." Clint said.

Growsky laughed. "You don't have enough pull to do anything to me. You cannot prove anything."

"How much faith do you really have in that statement? I wonder how the press will take Pinero's death; or the assassination of Volosky? What about the men that were sent to kill Councilman Meyers after he resigned?" Clint crossed his arms.

Growsky's face lost all of its color. "How…"

"It doesn't matter how we know. We have proof and we know everything. You will lose this war." Lillian said.

"And how do you know if I won't come after you after you leave. I could ruin the both of you." He growled.

Clint laughed in his face and put the gun flush against his temple. "The government thinks I'm dead. Good luck." He pressed it hard against his sin before he backed up. "You will leave this hotel, walk your fat ass across the street, and resign along with the rest of your fucked up Council. Then you'll book a flight and go the hell back to wherever you're from."

"And if I don't?"

"Then I will fucking kill you." He holstered his gun and pulled the man to his feet. Lillian came forward and unlocked the cuffs. The man was smart enough not to lunge at the two assassins.

"I hope I have the pleasure of never seeing your fucking face again." Clint said as the two walked back down the stairs.

"Are you sure that worked? How do we know that he isn't going to call the police?" Lillian asked.

"He won't. He was terrified. He cares about his own life and he knows that I am more than capable of ending it." They went into their own suite and picked up the bag before heading back down the 20 flights and out the back door. Clint pressed the comm in his ear.

"You can breathe, Natasha. We didn't kill him."

"You better not have. Get back here. Fury is coming over to discuss what comes next." She told him.

"We'll be there in ten."

They went back to his truck and quickly drove back to the tower.

They walked into the conference room and felt the change of atmosphere: tension free and easy. Steve and Tony were smiling and joking in the corner. Bruce was having an in depth conversation with Meyers. Fury was already there, speaking to Thor and Natasha.

Steve walked over to Clint and clapped him on the back. "How'd it go?"

"I said my piece. He won't be an issue." Clint nodded.

"I've received word from the U.N." Fury told the group. "As of right now, the Council has been disbanded. Councilman Meyers and I have a meeting tomorrow to talk about establishing a new Council."

"And where does that leave us?" Tony asked.

"Cleared of all charges," Fury responded. "Volosky's murder is under investigation but you all are no longer wanted for it. Take a vacation. You are officially on paid leave until this mess gets cleared up." He nodded to his team and left with Meyers.

"He certainly knows how to make an exit." Tony said.

"So this is over?" Lillian asked.

"It's over. We did a good thing today, team. Things are going to change around SHIELD now." Steve said. "Clint, just do me a favor? Next time I ask to come along, just say no."

"Aw Cap, you don't mean that." He laughed. "Besides, we were all bound to be dragged into it at some point. It worked out in the end."

Tony clapped his hands. "I'm ordering pizza. Who wants what?"

"Poptarts on mine!" Thor shouted as he followed Tony and Steve into the elevator. Bruce and Natasha followed them, conversing about doing experiments with the Hulk.

Clint decided to go to the roof and relax. Lillian stood awkwardly to the side.

"You might as well just admit it to yourself." Clint said.

"Admit what?"

"That you feel at home here." Clint looked at her steadily. "After all of this you are just going to go back to that desk job?"

"No, I don't think I could." She admitted.

He nudged his head in the direction of the staircase. "Come on."

She followed him up to the roof and sat beside him, their legs dangling.

"Even for me, it can be too much sometimes. I'll come up here to clear my mind." He stared at the dark sky. New York was lit up. "But take it from someone who's been alone most of his life. Being among people who actually give a shit about you is truly great. We're an eclectic group and we argue every day, but we are a family."

"Okay." She said simply.

He looked at her. "You'll stay?" He grinned when Lillian nodded her head. "Great. I'm sure Pepper will be happy."

"Just Pepper?"

"Well, I think Thor took a liking to you too." He smiled.

"You know, for someone who just tried pretty hard to get me to stay, you seem to like the idea of me staying less and less." She teased.

Clint looked back over the city. "I am happy you're staying, Lillian." He said seriously.

The two fell into a companionable silence.

Lillian Coulson left content behind at the apartment complex. Now she was happy, among friends. She had a feeling she would never be bored again.

As for Clint, he willing and gladly gave up his solitude. There was something about this woman that intrigued him and he was happy he'd have as much time as he needed to get to know her better.

Avenger's Tower would never be the same.


End file.
